An ECI That Works! Learning from the First Two Years of the European Citizens’ Initiative
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An ECI That Works! Learning from the first two years of the European Citizens’ Initiative Edited by Carsten Berg and Janice Thomson with prefaces from Maroš Šefčovič, Martin Schulz and Dimitris Kourkoulas This is the web edition of the book: AN ECI THAT WORKS! Learning from the first two years of the European Citizens’ Initiative Edited by Carsten Berg and Janice Thomson Prefaces by Maroš Šefčovič, Martin Schulz and Dimitris Kourkoulas Contributions from 16 ECIs by Jerry Van den Berge, Ana Del Pino, Adriano Varrica, Simona Pronckutė, Prisca Merz, Stanislas Jourdan, Heike Aghte, Panos Papadopoulos, Ana Gorey, Jean-Sébastien Marre, Susanne Kendler, Alessandro Valera, Madi Sharma, Joerg Mitzlaff, Alexis Anagnostakis and Daphne Rieder Analytic and prospective contributions by Paweł Głogowski, Alain Lamassoure, Sandrine Bélier, Mário Tenreiro, Henri Malosse, Emily O’Reilly, James Organ, Reinder Rustema, Bruno Kaufmann, Sylvia Yvonne Kaufmann, Julian Plottka, Annette Knaut and Maximilian Conrad Interviews with Axel Minrath, Ulrich Schmitz and Xavier Dutoit Linguistic support by Paul Carline Tables and diagrams by Nils Ehlers and Paweł Głogowski Text layout by Nils Ehlers Cover design and graphics by Mikołaj Musielak Information valid as of March 2014 This publication was created by The ECI Campaign. You may order the book by email: © 2014 The ECI Campaign, www.citizens-initiative.eu All rights reserved. Without prior permission in writing from The ECI Campaign it is prohibited to: – change this file, add or remove anything or include its contents or parts of it into any other publication or download package; – use, print, store or share this file, its contents or parts of it in relation with any commercial purpose. Quotes shall refer to the original printed book edition. Although all weblinks in this file were checked before publishing, there is no guarantee that they still lead to the intended target. For all weblinks, The ECI Campaign refuses any responsibility for the contents they lead to as well as for the danger that they might harm your system, data or privacy. 2 AN ECI THAT WORKS! Table of Contents Preface 1. Editors Carsten Berg and Janice Thomson, The ECI Campaign ............................................. 5 2. Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission Vice President for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration ............................................................................................................... 7 3. Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament ......................................................... 9 4. Dimitris Kourkoulas, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union ........................................................................................... 10 Part I – The First European Citizens’ Initiatives 0. An Overview of the First Two Years of the European Citizens’ Initiative by Carsten Berg and Paweł Głogowski ............................................................................... 11 Experiences of ECI Campaigns: 1. Water and Sanitation are a Human Right! Water is a Public Good! by Jerry van den Berge ........................................................................................................ 19 2. One of Us by Ana del Pino ................................................................................................................... 25 3. Stop Vivisection by Adriano Varrica .............................................................................................................. 29 4. Fraternité 2020 by Simona Pronckutė .......................................................................................................... 33 5. End Ecocide in Europe by Prisca Merz ..................................................................................................................... 37 6. Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) – Exploring a Pathway towards Emancipatory Welfare Conditions in the EU by Stanislas Jourdan ............................................................................................................ 42 7. 30km/h – Making Streets Liveable! by Heike Aghte .................................................................................................................... 47 8. Do not count Education Spending as Part of the Deficit! Education is an Investment! by Panos Papadopoulos ...................................................................................................... 52 9. High Quality European Education for All by Ana Gorey ....................................................................................................................... 54 10. Teach for Youth – Upgrade to ESASMUS 2.0 by Jean-Sébastien Marre .................................................................................................... 57 11. Let me Vote by Susanne Kendler ............................................................................................................. 59 12. European Initiative for Media Pluralism by Alessandro Valera .......................................................................................................... 62 13. Act4Growth by Madi Sharma .................................................................................................................. 64 AN ECI THAT WORKS! 3 Table of Contents 14. Central Public Online Collection Platform for the European Citizens’ Initiative by Joerg Mitzlaff ................................................................................................................. 67 15. One Million Signatures for “A Europe of Solidarity” by Alexis Anagnostakis ........................................................................................................ 69 16. My Voice Against Nuclear Power by Daphne Rieder ................................................................................................................ 71 Part II – Reflections on the ECI 0. What didn’t happen with the European Citizens’ Initiative…and what did by Janice Thomson .............................................................................................................. 73 Perspectives from inside EU institutions and national authorities: 1. Revising the ECI Regulation by MEP Alain Lamassoure ................................................................................................... 77 2. Fulfilling the promise of the ECI, learning from the Right2Water experience by MEP Sandrine Bélier ....................................................................................................... 81 3. Citizens’ Initiative: What’s next? by Mário Tenreiro, European Commission .......................................................................... 84 4. Initiatives for Change by Henri Malosse, President of the European Economic and Social Committee ................ 89 5. The ECI and the European Ombudsman by Emily O'Reilly .................................................................................................................. 91 6. National Authorities in the ECI Process: First Verification Experiences of the German Signature Verification Office An Interview with Axel Minrath and Ulrich Schmitz by Carsten Berg ................................. 93 Issues for reform: 7. Reform ECI Registration and Expand Public Debate: Reconsidering Legal Admissibility by James Organ ................................................................................................................... 97 8. Back to the Drawing Board for the ECI Online Collection System An interview with Xavier Dutoit by Carsten Berg .............................................................. 101 9. Why the ECI needs a Community-Developed Online Collection System by Reinder Rustema .......................................................................................................... 104 10. An Infrastructure for People Power That Works by Bruno Kaufmann .......................................................................................................... 107 11. Trust Young People by Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann .............................................................................................. 111 12. The First Public Hearing on an ECI: Unclear Aims and Confusing Debates by Julian Plottka ................................................................................................................ 112 13. Making the ECI Work – A Social Science Perspective by Annette Knaut and Maximilian Conrad ........................................................................ 115 14. Lessons and Recommendations for an ECI That Works compiled by Carsten Berg and Janice Thomson ................................................................ 118 4 AN ECI THAT WORKS! Preface 1. Editors Carsten Berg and Janice Thomson, The ECI Campaign Dear Reader, With this publication, we invite you to take part in a discussion on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) and the future of democracy in Europe. In the two years since the launch of the ECI, the first tool for transnational participatory and digital democracy in world history, we have amassed valu- able learning from over 20 pioneering ECI campaigns. Most have completed their campaigns and three have collected over one million signatures of support. In one year, the rules that govern the ECI (Regulation No 211/2011) will be up for review by the European Parliament and Council. Therefore it is time now to open the debate, raise questions, re- flect on observations and share perspectives. As the Greek