The application to register a European Citizens’ Initiative must be made by a citizens committee composed of at least 7 European citizens who reside in at least 7 member states of the European Union, independent of their nationality, and must be addressed to the European Commission, which must accept of deny its registration within two months time.
Organisations, entities or political parties are not able to present Citizens’ Initiatives, which must instead be made directly by the citizens themselves. They may, however, promote or support these Citizens’ Initiatives.
The decision over the registration of the Initiative obeys legal reasons, which may therefore be challenged. In case of rejection the Commission will inform the organizers of the reasons for it and the possible judicial and extrajudicial appeals at their disposal.
Once the initiative is registered, the committee will have 12 months to collect the statements of support from a minimum of 7 member states. The minimum amount of signatures to be collected in each of these countries is obtained by multiplying the number of deputies of the member state at the European Parliament by 750. Moreover, a total of at least 1 million European citizens must support the initiative.
A European Citizen may support a Citizens’ Initiative so long as they are of age to vote at the elections of the European Parliament (18 years in all member states, except for Austria, where voting is allowed from 16 years of age)
The number of support declarations will have to be certified by the competent authorities in each member state. Then the European Commission will have 3 months to assess the Initiative and decide how to act. In order to do so, they will meet with the organisers so that they may explain the demands they are making in more detail.
The organisers will also have the opportunity to present the Initiative in a public hearing at the European Parliament.
Following this, the European Commission will issue a communication where the conclusions of the initiative will be explained, such as which actions are to be taken, and if appropriate, the reasons why these actions will be taken or not.
