The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, made proposals to strengthen the role European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs) play in democratic political debate at the European level. Among the recommendations are better guidance for ECI organisers, a stronger involvement of the European Parliament and the Council and increased pressure on the Member States to make sure that all EU citizens are able to sign an ECI.
The Ombudsman would like to ensure that ECI organisers feel that their efforts to mobilise one million signatures are worthwhile and that political debate at the European level takes account of their initiatives. In her opinion, there is need for a more transparent decision-making as regards what action the Commission takes on ECIs.
Since the launch of European Citizens' Initiative in 2012, only three initiatives managed to collect one million signatures in at least seven Member States. In this light, the Ombudsman opened an investigation on her own initiative and formulated proposals on the improvement of the ECI. In the list of suggestions published last week, Ms. O'Reilly asks the Commission to explain its decision of rejecting an ECI in a consistent and comprehensible way and to explain its political choices as regards the follow-up to ECIs that have obtained one million signatures in a detailed and transparent way.
The Ombudsman also urges the Commission to create simpler and uniform signature collection rules requirements for all Member States to enable all EU citizens to sign ECIs.
The Ombudsman's decision and the full list of suggestions are available here.