Uutiset

Judgement of the court (Grand Chamber) concerning ECI 'One million signatures for a Europe of solidarity' 

The European Commission has today decided to register a European Citizens' Initiative inviting the Commission "to recommend to the Council to repeal the negotiating mandate for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and not to conclude the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)" ('STOP TTIP' Initiative). The formal registration of this Initiative on 10 July 2017 will start a one-year process of collection of signatures of support by its organisers.

This registration follows an initial Commission Decision to refuse to register the 'Stop TTIP' Initiative on 10 September 2014, which was annulled by the General Court of the European Union on 10 May 2017. The Commission has decided not to appeal the judgment.

The Commission has reassessed the proposed Initiative, which was originally submitted in July 2014, and decided to register it. However, the request for a proposal not to sign CETA has now become devoid of purpose, since it was signed on 30 October 2016. Signatures of support for this Citizens' Initiative may therefore be collected on the understanding that they aim for other legal acts.

The Commission's decision to register the Initiative concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed the substance at this stage.

The Commission has today decided on the partial registration of a European Citizens' Initiative entitled "Stop Extremism" inviting the Commission to "propose legislation in order to prevent the adverse consequences of extremism, above all for the Internal Market".

The Commission's decision to register the Initiative concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed its substance at this stage. The Commission's Decision, however, makes clear that the signatures for the Initiative should be collected only as regards proposals which are in line with the competences set out in the Treaties.

The Commission has today decided on the partial registration of a European Citizens' Initiative on tackling wage and economic inequality, concerning legal acts within its competences.

The European Commission has today decided to make a partial registration of a European Citizens' Initiative which invites the Commission to propose "Legal acts that clearly demonstrate the EU's intention to eliminate wage inequalities between Member States and which - to achieve this objective - allow for a more efficient cohesion of these states". The formal registration of this Initiative on 22 May 2017 will start a one-year process of collection of signatures of support by its organisers.

The Commission's decision to register the Initiative 'Let us reduce the wage and economic differences that tear the EU apart!' concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed the substance at this stage. The Commission's Decision makes clear for which kind of legal acts signatures may be collected, dependent on the competences set out in the Treaties.

General court ruling concerning ECI 'STOP TTIP'

General court ruling concerning ECI 'Ethic for animals and kids'

The European Commission has today decided to register a European Citizens' Initiative inviting the Commission "to improve the protection of persons belonging to national and linguistic minorities and strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the Union".

This registration follows an initial Commission Decision to refuse to register the 'Minority Safepack' Initiative on 13 September 2013, which was annulled by the General Court of the European Union on 3 February 2017. The Commission has reassessed the proposed Initiative, which requests proposals for 11 legal acts. Further details of the proposed acts can be found in the Annex.

While 2 of the 11 acts manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission's power to propose legislation , 9 of them do not. Statements of support may therefore be collected on the basis of these 9 proposals.

The Commission's decision to register the Initiative 'Minority SafePack – one million signatures for diversity in Europe' concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed the substance at this stage.

The European Commission has today registered two European Citizens' Initiatives concerning the rights of Union citizens in the context of the withdrawal of a Member State from the EU and rejected a third proposal entitled 'Stop Brexit'.

The first invites the Commission to separate Union citizenship from Member State nationality in light of the UK withdrawal from the EU ("EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in Spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis"), and the second calls on the Commission to uphold the right of Union citizens to move and reside freely within the European Union ("Retaining European Citizenship"). At the same time, the Commission has rejected as inadmissible a third proposal calling on the Commission to prevent the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU ("Stop Brexit").

The Commission's decisions concern the legal admissibility of the proposed initiatives. At this stage, the Commission has not examined the substance of the initiatives.

The Commission found that the "EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis" and the "Retaining European Citizenship" initiatives meet the conditions necessary for registration under the Regulation on European Citizens' Initiatives. Both European initiatives call on the Commission to protect the status and rights of EU citizenship, in the context of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. The Commission attaches great importance to the underlying issue of providing certainty and security to the 4 million citizens (3,2 million EU citizens in the UK and 1,2 million UK citizens in the EU) who are unsure of their future as a result of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the EU. While the Commission cannot propose secondary legislation aiming at granting EU citizenship to natural persons who do not hold the nationality of a Member State of the Union, the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the rights of UK citizens in the EU after the withdrawal of the UK will be at the core of the upcoming Article 50 negotiations. The Commission will do its upmost to prevent EU citizens from being used as bargaining chips in the negotiations with the UK.

In the case of the "Stop Brexit" initiative, the Commission found that the conditions for registration were not met. Article 50(1) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) explicitly allows any Member State to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements. While the Commission regrets the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, it respects the outcome of the referendum.

General court ruling concerning ECI 'Minority SafePack'

The European Commission has decided today to register a European Citizens Initiative (ECI), entitled 'Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides', inviting the Commission "to propose to Member States a ban on glyphosate, to reform the pesticide approval procedure, and to set EU-wide mandatory reduction targets for pesticide use".

The Commission's decision to register the Initiative concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The conditions for admissibility, as foreseen by the ECI Regulation, are that the proposed action does not manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission's powers to submit a proposal for a legal act, that it is not manifestly abusive, frivolous or vexatious and that it is not manifestly contrary to the values of the Union.

The College of Commissioners discussed the legal admissibility of the proposed ECI today and concluded that the legal conditions for the registration of the ECI were fulfilled. The College has not analysed the substance of the initiative at this stage.