The effect of the above proposals is to bring Europe closer to the people, as Laeken recommended. It represents a large step in the democratisation of the Union. It undoubtedly enhances the role of the European citizen in shaping the future of the European Union. The Constitution will only govern the basic rights and instruments. Further procedures have to be laid down in a European law. The idea of the European Citizens´ Legislative Initiative is that the citizens can present a law proposal to the relevant organs of the European Union. These organs have then to decide whether they will adopt the proposal or not. If the organs don't adopt the proposal, then a binding referendum on the proposed law or proposed framework law must take place. Fair and balanced information on the issues must be provided to the electorate. We also propose to create a European Citizens' Legislative Submission which would extend the existing right of petition to a right of the citizens to present legislative proposals to the relevant organs of the EU. They have then to decide whether legislative action will be taken or not.

It is very important that the thresholds for the signatures that are to be gathered for the European Citizens´ Legislative Initiative and the European Citizens´ Legislative Submission are not too high. High thresholds interfere with the process and effectively allow only powerful organizations the possibility of securing the required signatures. Based on experiences with citizen lawmaking in many European countries and in other countries of the world we propose that the number of signatures for the European Citizens´ Legislative Submission should not exceed 300,000-500,000; and for the European Citizens´ Legislative Initiative should not exceed 3,000,000-5,000,000.