Fancy changing or proposing a new EU law?

Last updated on Wednesday, 01/09/2021

Are you motivated to help to change the law? The European Citizens’ Initiative allows you to contribute to shape the EU by proposing a new legislation. Learn how you can take action.

The European citizens' initiative (ECI) allows EU citizens to participate directly in EU policy-making, by calling on the European Commission to propose a new law.

It all starts with an idea…

If your idea falls under a policy area where the Commission has powers to propose laws, you can submit a citizens' initiative for it. This can be policies related to the environment, consumer protection, agriculture, food safety, energy, transport, culture, non-discrimination and humanitarian aid. 

There are obviously some formal conditions you need to meet to do this – in particular, you can't do it alone: you must set up a group of organisers composed of at least 7 EU citizens living in 7 different EU countries. So, the first thing is to find people to team up with across Europe who are willing to support your initiative. 

ECIs are usually led by civil society organisations and coalitions. A good idea is to check whether your law proposal matches the advocacy of a non-governmental organisation that could help you with promoting the initiative. Indeed, once your initiative is registered, you will have one year to collect 1 million signatures from at least 7 EU countries. 

To reach this goal you will need a strong communication plan, volunteers to collect signatures and a lot of energy! Don’t hesitate to seek advice in the ECI FORUM. 

What happens next?

With your million signatures you have a guarantee that:

• the Commission will seriously examine your initiative, you can even meet Commission officials in person to explain your idea in detail;
• you can present and debate your initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament.

The Commission is legally bound to make a formal response, spelling out what action it will propose (if any), and the reasons for taking (or not taking) action.

If the Commission decides to act, this will be in the form of a formal proposal for a new law. However, to be enacted, the law will need to be approved by (usually) both the European Parliament and EU governments through the EU Council. 

You can find detailed advice on all these issues on the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum and in the FAQs.

Get inspired...

Among the different examples, have a look at the ‘Fairosene’ European Citizens’ Initiative, or ‘Ending the Aviation Fuel Tax Exemption in Europe. This is the story of how an idea dreamt up by seven students in their dormitories can end up at the heart of the European Commission’s environmental policy.  ‘Fairosene’ is a grassroot initiative urging the European Commission to propose a tax on aviation fuel (kerosene) for domestic and intra-European flights. To make their dream come true, the students used the European Citizens’ Initiative, the participatory democracy instrument at the disposal of European citizens, which allows for awareness raising among various layers of civil society but also for lobbying policymakers.

"Our campaign started with no funds, no expectations, a nothing-to-lose attitude, and a thirst for learning how to better advocate for citizens’ needs and demands."

Launching an unfunded campaign that spans across many EU Member States while trying to also balance university responsibilities was not an easy task. Throughout the span of the ECI, organisers had to sacrifice a lot of their free and leisure time to give the Initiative higher chances of success, but their passion and sacrifice have been rewarded when well-respected organisations agreed to cooperate and help them drive the policy proposal to the heart of the Commission. Additionally, the more traction their initiative gained online, the more young citizens from all over Europe were reaching out to them to form teams of volunteers in their countries and campaign on the local level to raise signatures.

This grassroot initiative collected only 75,000 signatures but had its policy proposal included in the ‘Fit For 55’ legislative package of the European Commission which aims to make the Green Deal a reality.

Read more about the ‘Fairosene’ European Citizens’ Initiative