22,131 of 25,000 signatures

Members of the European Parliament

Petition text:

European democracy is under threat by a bureaucracy that does not seem to care about the citizens. The European Citizens’ Initiative was introduced to build the people's confidence in the EU and give citizens a say in EU politics. Right now is our chance to fight for the survival of the ECI and make sure our voice is heard in Europe. We must mobilise now to call for a Europe not of financial markets and lobbyists, but a Europe of the people!

Why this is important

Did you know the EU could stop media moguls, like Rupert Murdoch from dominating the media landscape of Europe and the UK? There is a tool called the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) that allows people to participate directly in the creation of EU laws, and ask for the laws we want.

This tool is a great idea and a wonderful opportunity for democracy but is actually too weak for participation to mean actual change led by people in Europe.

Luckily in just a few days the European Parliament will be voting to reform the ECI for the better. If we show broad public support for reform, the Parliament will have to vote in favour of making this tool work. Take action right now!

Take action today and demand that Members of the European Parliament stand up for democracy in Europe!

Background

Political decisions in Europe impact us all and we must be able to have a real say in them. The ECI could enable us to make sure Murdoch and his European counterparts stop monopolising our media.

Over six million Europeans [1] have used it to stand up to defend media freedom, water as a public good, restriction of animal testing, high quality European education for all, and many other issues that affect us all. [2]

The European Citizens' Initiative was introduced in 2012 with the aim to increase direct democracy in the European Union. The initiative enables one million EU citizens from at least seven Member States, to call directly on the European Commission to propose a new law or a change in an existing law. [3] We must be able to be involved in fundamental discussions regarding how Europe is built and the laws it produces.

The ECI is currently the only instrument we have to directly influence the EU’s agenda - but it is highly inefficient and almost entirely powerless. If the parliament does not vote for reform we have no chance of getting the commission to effectively reform the ECI tool and actually make the EU more democratic.

This campaign is run in partnership with Democracy International.

References

[1] Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council

[2] Democracy International Revision of the European Citizens' Initiative 29 Sep 2015

[3] European Commission - ECI Basic Facts

Quick Fact Sheet:

European Commission: The European Commission is the EU's executive arm. It is alone responsible for drawing up proposals for new European legislation, and it implements the decisions of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

European Parliament: 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) directly elected by EU voters every 5 years. The European Parliament is one of the EU's law-making bodies. It discusses, amends and adopts laws proposed by the European Commission.

The Council of the European Union (known as the Council): Government ministers from each EU country, according to the policy area to be discussed. The Council amends and adopts laws, and coordinate policies proposed by the European Commission.

Together with the European Parliament, the Council is the main body to decide on legislation of the EU.

Not to be confused with:

European Council - Leaders of EU member states. Sets the broad direction of EU policy making.

Council of Europe - not an EU body at all.

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22,131

of 25,000 signatures

Recent comments

andrew

I want Jean Claude Juncker held to democratic account. He behaves like a dog. He is the most corrupt human that ever lived. He's a big business inside man.

Cynical distrust that politicians are working for the good of the common man, regardless of their country of origin but especially in the UK

The EU is very important. Putting the power into the hands of its citizens is vital.

Because I want to live in a democratic country and not have the likes of Rupert Murdoch dominating the media.

Democracy in ALL our countries and the EU MUST be run FOR the PEOPLE

In a democracy people expect to be consulted and listened to. We now live in an age when consultation can easily be widespread and inclusive, so we should be using the tools at our disposal.

With so many different countries and viewpoints, it is very easy for issues that are actually common to many people in those countries to never be heard, as much as anything because MEPs form groups that, quite reasonably, have distinct concerns/objective/positions. This however, can hinder more basic issues that affect significant sections of the EU populace/electorate, and this is where the ECI (European Citizens' Initiative) could play a key and, quite possibly, complementary role with that of the MEPs. Moreover, MEPs may find their "hands tied" (by, for example, the European Commission) on some issues that are important to the EU electorate, so it makes a lot of sense that the latter have an effective way of making their voice heard. At the end of the day, it is what its populace does collectively that determines the success or failure of the EU, so giving it a more effective voice for issues that may well cut across otherwise ideologically-opposed political groupings would increase the chance for our voices to be heard on issues where the feeling or concern is strong enough.

Europe matters. We stand for freedom, justice, and equality.

Murkey Murdoch types should not be allowed to take over too much media: it is not democratic

We all need to be alert to threats on our democracy.We do not want to sleep walk into a world controlled by corrupt media outlets. Government needs to be accountable to the electorate and not big business

The European Citizens' Initiative should be an effective tool with which to effect an increase in direct democracy within The European Union. If a million E.U. citizens, from at least seven Member States, have a mutual concern about E.U. law, then The European Commission should be obliged to take such a concern into account in its proposals for E.U. law making..

Either you should either be striving to be organising on the principle of informed consensus of the population entire, or the population entire should be striving to overthrow you.

Firstly, democracy is the most important thing here - nobody should have more power than those who are democratically elected. And Rupert Murdoch considered himself more important than the law in the UK as I believe he initially refused to answer questions from a UK Parliament committee about the hacking scandal at one of his newspapers - until of course he realised that it might be bad PR not to do it. If we hand over more power to the already rich and powerful then we might as well just forget about democracy entirely.

Because I feel very strongly starting w/ the first sentence in "Petition text: what a betrayal for all Europeans. Those of you destroying democracy, pleas become decent human beings again and stop this. Carol

There needs to be more support for public interest!

People are more important than money.

The European Citizens' Initiative empowers us all; members of the public of each member country, elected representatives in the European Parliament, European Administrators, Representatives in national Parliaments, even heads of national governments and the Council of Ministers; because we can all respond positively to informed public debate, when the issues are publicly debated responsibly.

I don't wan't a controlled media. I wan't to see real unbiased facts of the World. Our media totally control the electorate in the UK. One example that says it all. When the Sun switched to Labour they won. When they switched back they didn't.

Democracy should belong to the people

Because it gives ordiary people a voice

Government of the people, by the people, for the people. The elected members cannot be trusted to do the last two.

I believe in putting the needs of the people before the profits of big business; a more powerful and better publicised ECI would be a great tool for the citizens of the EU to be heard above the voices of lobbyists and big business and to give us a truly democratic EU.

The people need a strong voice so that we can stop media moguls taking over our news media.

The ECI was developed to be used by the people of Europe. For the European Parliament to champion democracy elsewhere across the globe then it needs to lead by example.Let us make the ECI a better tool for the people of Europe to have their say and be listened to. Well done to the 3million signatories who signed the ECI against TTIP.

I have long wanted to increase the interaction with the European Parliament so we can have a more democratic (and likeable) EU

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Petition text:

Why this is important

Background

References

Next step - spread the word

Stand up for more democracy in Europe!