“The historical move by the Commission to implement a qualified ECI with a legislative proposal is a much welcome sign of force for the ECI, the EU and transnational democracy,” says Bruno Kaufmann, board member of Democracy International and founder of the Initiative and Referendum institute Europe, one of the original promoters of the ECI since the early 1990s.  “The Commission has long been and rightly so criticized for its weak follow-up to successful ECIs, but this is a positive step in the right direction,” Kaufmann said.

Democracy International welcomes the strong response by the Commission. Democracy International has been campaigning for a stronger and more effective ECI and has taken an active role in the ECI’s revision process. A stronger response by the Commission on successful ECIs was a top demand for Democracy International, listed also in the recommendations to the Commission in Democracy International's position paper on the revision of the ECI. 

The proposal for a new regulation of an improved ECI was presented by the Commission on September 13. The ECI has been in use for five years with a total of 65 registered proposals and four initiatives submitting the required one million signatures from at least seven Member States to the Commission.

Annex:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-5191_en.htm