18 April 2023
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The ECI has reached 100. Since ECIs were launched on 1 April 2012, the Commission has received 125 requests to launch a European Citizens' Initiative, 100 of which were eventually registered.
The organisers of the new initiative - "Connecting all European capitals and citizens with a high-speed rail network" - call on the Commission to propose a legally binding act aiming at connecting all European capitals through high-speed railway lines by linking the existing high-speed railway networks and building high-speed lines where these do not yet exist
Registering an initiative is just the first step. The organisers must then collect, within a year, one million signatures in at least seven Member States to 'force' the Commission to react and decide whether or not to comply with the request.
So far, nine initiatives were successful in collecting one million signatures; seven of them already received a response from the Commission and two are currently under examination. Last 5 April, the Commission responded to the initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment" initiative.
European Citizens' Initiatives give the opportunity to citizens to bring topics on the agenda at EU level and have already led to concrete results. For example, in response to an initiative, the Commission announced a proposal for 2023 to prohibit cages for all animals mentioned in the initiative. The follow-up to the "Right to Water" and "Ban Glyphosate" initiatives led to the adoption of legislative acts.
Today's registration marks an important milestone since the introduction of this unique tool that empowers European citizens to actively participate in shaping the policies and priorities of the European Union.