Some MEPs are beginning to question the fact that the European Commission is the only body that can determine whether or not a citizens’ initiative is eligible.

The question had already been raised in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), on 14 June in Strasbourg (see Europolitics3999). It reappeared during a seminar organised, on 22 June in Brussels, by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the presence of Interinstitutional Relations Commissioner Maros Sefcovic. The latter recalled that, according to the political agreement reached between the Council and the Commission, on 14 June, any organiser will be required to register and provide an explanation of his project before even beginning to seek support. Then, when 100,000 signatures have been collected, the Commission will decide whether or not the initiative is eligible (the threshold initially proposed was 300,000).

For Sefcovic, it is clear that the executive will remain the only body authorised to say whether or not an initiative is acceptable. This approach has been contested by ALDE’s fictive rapporteur within the AFCO committee, Anneli Jaatteenmaki (Finland), who considers that “it should be up to the EU Court of Justice to decide on eligibility as a last resort”. Diana Wallis (UK), from the Petitions Committee, believes that “the European Parliament must make itself the advocate of certain initiatives”.

As co-decider with the Council, the latter must take a position on the Commission’s draft regulation by the end of the year. The objective is that this fundamental innovation of the Lisbon Treaty, which allows one million Europeans to ask the Commission to make a legislative proposal in a particular area, should be in place by 1 December.