European Citizens Initiative

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One of the changes to the EU Treaties introduced by the Lisbon Treaty was the European Citizens Initiative. This allows citizens to directly petition the European Commission to consider drafting EU legislative proposals (in those areas the Commission has legal competence) for MEPs and Member State Ministers to adopt as EU law. The first such initiative was formally opened last May 9th.

A lot of the proposed initiatives - a mere dozen or so - seem to have been suggested by amateur groups rather than "vested interests". As such, they have struggled to set up their online signature collection mechanism as this was beyond their resources it would seem. The Commission eventually was forced to step in and it started hosting such online collection systems for some of these groups. As such it is now possible for you to sign some of these initiatives (depending on how organised the sponsors have been).

The method to do so is a bit cumbersome as starting from the list of Open Initiatives, you typically go from the Commission site to that of the Initiative Supporters (if they have one) which explains their idea and then click the "Sign now" link on it which redirects you back to another Commission site where you find the "Support" link in the bottom left which finally directs you to the actual "Sign here" section. Patience is indeed a virtue...

Please note some of the open initiative supporters aren't even organised enough for you to do that much although others such as the "30 KPH urban speed limit" supporters are.

Signing is easy. To sign as a resident of Ireland, you MUST:
A) be a resident of Ireland (the RoI),
be entitled to vote in European elections under Irish law (i.e. 18+ years of age and an EU citizen).

If you are resident in another EU member state, you must sign under the rules of that member state (e.g. As a resident of France under French rules if you reside there even if you are Irish). Also, if you are non-Irish, "double signing" is not allowed if you are entitled to also sign in your home member state - it's either/or.

Anyway, two discussion points would seem to arise from this:
1) where are the Irish initiated initiatives? This was highlighted in the Lisbon referenda so what happened to all our supposed desire for additional change (beyond Lisbon) that was supposedly being manifested during the referenda campaigns?
2) in order to get an Irish led initiative off the ground, what, if any, proposals would people have in mind that the Commission could propose? Remember, the proposed initiative must be within one of the fields that the EU Treaties allow the Commission to make legislative proposals.

Scofflaw

What is it about the climate change sceptic/eurosceptic crossover?

Proposal: Suspension of the EU Climate & Energy Package.

1. To stop EU climate policy wasting hundreds of billions of euros on ineffective unilateral action on the climate at a time of economic crisis. 2. To stop carbon leakage - export of jobs and businesses to developing countries without climate legislation. 3. To make fuel and energy cheaper, increase employment and reduce fuel poverty. This will increase social cohesion and reduce social exclusion. 4. To increase energy security by allowing member states to use their own natural energy resources.

Sponsorship: EFD Group (eurosceptic) in EP.

As to Irish initiatives...I'm not sure that the Irish are ever particularly pressed to create legislation. To some extent I regard that as part of the secret of Fianna Fáil's success over the years - they were masters of dead legislation and death by committee.

cordially,
Scofflaw