Introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is the most important instrument for direct democracy at European level. Three years after its launch, the time has come for an assessment and potential reset of the ECI legal framework, particularly Regulation 211/2011.
On 1 April 2015, the European Commission will present an assessment report on the first three years of ECI practice. In 2014, the European Ombudsman carried out an own-initiative inquiry in order to receive feedback on how effectively the ECI procedure was working. This year's ECI Day will focus on the conclusions of these two reports.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), in partnership with the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), the ECI Campaign, Democracy International, the Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe, people2power.info and Swissinfo, is organising this year's ECI Day on Monday 13 April, from 9 a.m to 5.30 p.m, at the EESC building in Brussels.
The event will focus on the ECI renewal and resetting and the different perspectives: users, Member States, Parliament and support structures.
Date: Monday, 13 April 2015
Location: Rue Belliard, 99, Brussels, Belgium
More info on the website of the EESC here