The European Citizens' Initiative: A Useful Instrument for Public Participation?

The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) allows citizens from April 2012 to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act within the framework of its powers. However, the formal requirements for such an initiative have been set very high: to be successful, an ECI will require a million signatures from at least seven out of 27 member states. While the idea behind the ECI is to address the democratic deficit in the EU by helping citizens to participate directly in the legislative process, implementation issues could undermine the effectiveness, relevance and democratic potential of this new instrument.

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