The so-called European citizens' initiative, one of the main innovations under the Treaty of Lisbon, will enable citizens to ask the Commission to bring forward legislative proposals if  the supporters of an initiative number at least one million and come from a significant number of member states. On 14 February, the European Council adopted the Regulation to finally put this instrument into place.

Under the Treaty of Lisbon, a new dimension of participatory democracy was introduced within EU decision process, deepening into the principle of representative democracy on which the EU is founded. This mechanism aims to bring the European Union closer to its citizens by encouraging more cross-border debate about EU issues.

Once the mechanism was agreed, some issues still remained to be solved regarding its practical application in questions such as the number of signatures that would be required, as well as their origin and the personal data signatories would be asked to provide when supporting an initiative. The final adoption of Citizens' initiative Regulation by the Council follows the agreement reached by Institutions within the official trialogue, which led to the final approval within the Council on 14 December 2010.

The regulation will be applicable one year after its entry into force in order to allow member states and the Commission to take the necessary measures to implement it.

Citizens' Initiative Regulation

The regulation sets out the procedures and conditions for implementing the citizens' initiative. In particular, the Regulation lays down that a proposed initiative must fall within an area of EU competence and be consistent with the Union's values.

The required "significant number" of member states is defined as at least one quarter of EU members, and a key is established for calculating the number of supporters necessary from each member state. Support for a proposed initiative can be expressed in either paper form or electronically. Furthermore, the regulation contains provisions on the verification of signatures and in order to prevent potential abuses.