Proposition 53K2435

Projet de loi relatif à l'initiative citoyenne au sens du règlement (UE) n° 211/2011 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 16 février 2011.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP the Di Rupo government

Submission date

Oct. 9, 2012

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

EC Regulation citizens' Europe European Union national implementing measure petition

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP ∉ Open Vld N-VA LDD MR VB

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Discussion ¶

Dec. 13, 2012 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Marie-Martine Schyns, the rapporteur, refers to her written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Minister, dear colleagues, the Lisbon Treaty was an important step towards more Europe, both socio-economically, diplomatically and democratically.

Today, a new stone has been laid with the effective introduction of the possibility for European citizens to invite the European Commission to submit new proposals, provided that this request is supported by more than one million people, spread across a significant number of EU Member States.

This right should not be taken lightly, because citizen participation is the key to a fully successful European integration. This citizen participation, now concretized in its implementation by this bill, however, deserves a few reflections.

The European initiative, if used wisely, could allow the peoples of Europe to be clearly heard on a specific issue. Because, beyond electing representatives to the European Parliament, this tool would allow the European Commission to receive a certain form of democratic legitimacy that it has never really known to date.

In fact, given the European citizens’ lack of confidence in their institutions, this instrument represents a historic opportunity for Europe to finally create a major democratic momentum. It is also an opportunity to foster genuine solidarity among the peoples of our Union, especially in the light of the upcoming European elections, which will play a crucial role for the future of our Union.

Nevertheless, this instrument is far from perfect, in particular because it concerns only matters relating to the European Commission stricto sensu. What then about areas such as education, culture, which are yet able to realize the long-awaited unity of the European Union and which are dear to us? These are also real themes that can further federate the peoples of Europe. We therefore hope that this petition system will be extended to take into account all the concerns of the citizens of the European Union.

Here, Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Minister, dear colleagues, is what my group wanted to highlight in the debate of this bill, which it will obviously support.

The present bill has a symbolic value. It is at the heart of my group, for two reasons, a democratic reason and a European reason.

First, the bill is in a sense historical because it allows the implementation of a first instrument of direct democracy at the international level. Nowhere in the world exists an instrument that allows citizens to directly trigger legislative initiatives on a supranational or international level. From a democratic point of view, this is very important. My party attaches great importance to the debate on the modernization of our democracy, which was initially an indirect democracy. Now we are looking for new tools to make citizens more direct on decision-making. With this initiative, symbolic but imperfect, we are taking a significant first step to give our citizens the opportunity to enable a debate at European level. Currently, there are 14 initiatives in place where citizens across Europe seek to collect 1 million signatures from at least seven European countries to force the European Commission to talk about matters that these people consider important. This is an important legislative initiative.

Secondly, Europe is at a hinge moment. Today we are experiencing a major economic and financial crisis. Will Europe find a second breath or will it break down? My group believes very strongly in the European project. Initiatives such as these can strengthen the support for further unification of Europe. The initiative is imperfect. My group, including in the European Parliament, would have wanted to take further steps. In the coming years we must do that too.

This is a very important symbolic and in a sense also historical step towards more direct democracy in Europe. We will fully support this bill.