With the citizens’ initiative, Europeans can propose laws to the EU Commission, but they don’t know it

Brussels – The European citizens’ initiative exists, but not for citizens, who are not aware of it. Within the 27 member states, few know that the possibility of proposing citizens’ initiative laws exists, and even fewer know what specifically this right is proper for the integration project. The latest Eurobarometer survey designed to determine when Europeans pay attention to the rule of law instead reveals an unawareness of existing but untapped rights. 

Yet the citizens’ initiative is already “of age”, having come into force in 2012 after the introduction of the Lisbon Treaty. Eunews, with its glossary on the European Union, also helps to orient about this institution of democratic participation. The citizens’ initiative allows one million people from at least one quarter of the EU member states to ask the European Commission to propose legislation in one of its areas of responsibility. The initiative’s initiators have one year to collect the one million signatures, and the relevant authorities must authenticate the signatures in each member state. Once the citizens’ initiative is completed, the Commission has three months to examine it and decide how to act. The initiative can be accepted or rejected, but the active engagement of a largely passive populace remains
firm.

Eurobarometer asked European citizens whether they knew they had this right of legislative initiative, and the response is “no”. In the EU, only 18 per cent of respondents know that this institution exists and how it works, while 23 per cent have heard about it but could not explain what it is. Result: the majority of Europeans (59 per cent) do not know that there is a citizens’ initiative to produce the regulations that will then govern everyday life.  

This is a situation to which not even Italy, a founding country of the European Union, is an exception. In Italy, an absolute majority (53 per cent) of people are unaware that they can stimulate the EU executive to intervene where they feel it is necessary (and where a request for regulatory action can be made). 

European Union and democratic participation, there is a cleavage between civil society and politics in the EU. Above all, however, in light of the survey conducted between March 3 and April 6, 2024, once again, a European citizenry emerges unaware of the reality in which it lives and what the European Union means. In this regard, an example is the unawareness of being able to move freely between member states.