The European Citizens' Initiative: Caught between Executive Dominance and Judicial Restraint?

Launched as a tool of participatory democracy, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) raised great hopes to make the Union more accessible. However from the very beginning, the procedures and conditions of the ECI have been beset with problems. Its early years are characterized by the struggle to determine the registration requirements to be fulfilled by organizers. With the recent legislative revision of Regulation No 211/2011 and the CJEU’s jurisprudence, these requirements have become more lenient - leading to an increase in registered ECIs. In recent years, it is exactly this increase that has reinforced the ultimate question of the citizens’ initiative - which actions must or should the Commission take subsequent to a successfully submitted initiative. In an attempt to contribute to the discussion, the present chapter analyses both the legislative framework in this regard as well as the Court’s interpretation thereof. It shows that the ECI in terms of its outcome is currently caught between a dominant Commission defending its holy grail of the right of initiative, and a Court, which so far has shown little activism to grant anything more than a reasoned opinion to organizers of a successful ECI. With the ongoing political debate and the call to elevate a successful ECI to a right to trigger the process of adopting Union acts, the pressure on the legislature is increasing. It is in this context that this chapter reflects on potential ways forward, their effectiveness in terms of concluding the debate, and the likeliness of being politically accepted.