European institutions meeting in the official trialogue for the citizens' initiative reached an agreement on the evening of 6 December about the formal requirements to be met by this new legislative instrument. This new procedure created by the Lisbon Treaty will allow EU citizens to formally request the Commission to legislate in one particular subject where it has the competence to do so.

Representatives from the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission meeting in the official trialogue in charge of the negotiations over the practical elements to put in place the citizens' initiative, reached a definitive agreement on the evening of 6 December. These negotiations where the three institutions had already achieved a good agreement in principle over the citizens' initiative by the beginning of the month, ended up with a compromise which will allow to simplify some questions regarding the implementation of this instrument and make it really operational.

Main elements of citizens' initiative trialogue agreement

• The admissibility check on an initiative will be made at the point of registration
• To ensure the initiatives are well-founded and have a European dimension, a citizens' committee of at least seven members coming from seven Member States should be set up to register an initiative
• The signatories must come from a minimum number of Member States representing one-quarter of the Member States
• The Commission will help initiative organisers by providing a user-friendly guide and setting up a point of contact
• If an initiative manages to collect one million signatures, a proper follow-up will be guaranteed, including a public hearing
• The regulation will be reviewed after three years

The institutions also reached a compromise on the difficult issue of how to verify the authenticity of signatures agreeing that it is up to Member States to do this, and the method of verifying identity differs significantly from country to country. According to the compromise, Member States will have some flexibility in choosing which information is required in each country.

From now on, Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee will vote on the agreed text on 13 December, and it is expected that the proposal will be voted in Plenary session on 16 December. The Council has also committed to approving the regulation by the end of the year, after what Member States will have one year to incorporate the new legislation into national law.