Adjudicating Europe

As the Lisbon Treaty was about to enter into force the European Commission presented an initiative to fill in gaps left by the big politics. What is at stake? The citizens right to propose legislation! Is this an attempt to introduce some true democracy to the European Union? Unfortunately not….the Treaty of Lisbon provides merely for the right to give a suggestion to the European Commission (which it does not have to follow). All of this to proclaim, in a grandiose fashion, the representative democracy (btw. who cared about it when the two top appointments were made behind very closed doors…sic!). So what is the point now? Quite crucial, indeed.

Article 11.4 EU Treaty reads as follows:

‘Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties.

The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.’

That’s it! The rest will be provided in a regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. It looks like we have tough negotiations ahead. The Commission’s Green Paper is a good outline of challenges one faces when the time comes to translate a political compromise into a decent (hopefully) piece of legislation. The following issues are at stake:

• minimum number of Member States from which citizens must come
• minimum number of signatures per Member State
• eligibility to support a citizens’ initiative - minimum age
• form and wording of a citizens’ initiative
• requirements for the collection, verification and authentication of signatures
• time limits for the collection of signatures
• requirements as to the registration of proposed initiatives
• requirements imposed on the organizers (transparency and funding)
• examination of initiatives by the European Commission (deadlines, feedback etc.)
• initiatives dealing with the same issue

A brief summary of what Commission wants us - the newly empowered EU citizens - to think about. First, what the drafters of the Lisbon Treaty had in mind by saying ‘a significant number’? Majority of the Member States? One quarter or maybe one-third of the Member States? Second, who will be eligible to pursue such proposals? Third, how should they be phrased? As draft laws or maybe just general sets of ideas? Fourth, how such proposals should be collected and verified. We don’t want to have proposals submitted by ghost names or crocks, do we? Shall we impose some kind of time limits for the collection of signatures once an initial proposal is tabled? Also, what will be the formal requirements for the registration of proposed initiatives? Is a pan-European website a feasible reality? Also, we would like to know who is behind a proposal and if the funding behind is legitimate in any way. Quite important, isn’t it? What will happen if different millions of EU citizens are great minds and think alike? How do we treat such similar proposals? Last but not least, how the European Commission is expected to handle popular initiatives? Let’s hope it is transparent and sticks to ‘sense and sensibility’ principles.

Many issues to think about in the coming two months. The European Commission has asked to have all contributions to the debate by 31^st January 2010. Honestly, not that much time for such crucial matters, especially that the Christmas break will bring everything to a halt for good two weeks. Time to roll up the sleeves and get ready! What really puzzles me is the relationship between the popular initiative and the principle of subsidiarity. The new mechanics of subsidiarity involve national parliaments and give them quite considerable powers. All this alongside the usual subsidiarity checks employed by the European Commission and some of the national authorities (check out the House of Lords!). My question is: what will happen if we have a popular initiative, the Commission takes up the case and presents a proposal and then a required number of national parliaments says the proposal is contrary to the principle of subsidiarity? Time will find the answer, as they say….