EU Citizens' Initiative

The ECI became legally effective in April 2012 with the EU regulation 211/2011, and a revision took place which went into effect 1 January 2020 with EU regulation 2019/788 which serves as the updated rules on the ECI.

Democracy International has called for revision to the European Citizens' Initiaitve, has ran successful reform campaigns including to increse the role of the European Parliament in the follow-up to successful ECIs, and continues to promote better implementation of the instrument - above all, pushing for a stronger political response from the EU Commission to successful ECIs. We know campaigners give life to the instrument so that the instrument is a living and breathing democratic tool for citizens to sign and use. That's why Democracy International promotes awareness and understanding of the ECI and assists campaigners in their ECI journey.

Via the European Citizens' Initiative Forum, run by European Citizens Action Service with Democracy International and ProMedia as subcontractors under the European Commission, we run stakeholder consultations to gather perspectives on the ECI and its support tools, while also offering campaigning and fundraising advice to future and ongoing ECIs.