History
The idea of giving European citizens initiative rights is not new. In 1988 and in 1993 the European Parliament proposed to introduce an initiative tool. Only a few years later, at the Intergovernmental Conference of Amsterdam, Austrians Wolfgang Schüssel and Italians Lamberto Dini put on their part a proposal for an initiative right on the agenda.
The last attempt to establish a kind of citizens’ initiative right was once again undertaken by the European Parliament in 2002. Even though all these very different attempts to improve citizens’ involvement in European politics did not lead to an immediate success, they constitute important steps towards the European Citizens’ Initiative.
The first real breakthrough for the ECI came in June 2003, when the Convention on the Future of Europe finally, and surprisingly, decided to include it in the draft constitutional treaty (Article 47.4). Only one week before the end of the Conventions’ work, an overwhelming majority of the presidium rejected the inclusion of the ECI in the final text. At this crucial moment, instead of giving in, activists from several NGOs redoubled their efforts to convince the presidium members, sending hundreds of emails, faxes and by trying to get in touch with them personally. During this decisive week the political support for the ECI within the Convention played also a very important role.
Finally, it was the common engagement of politicians and activists that turned the tide.
Lars Bosselmann
