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The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) was introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon, aimed at increasing direct democracy in the European Union. The initiative enables one million citizens of the European Union, who are nationals of at least one quarter of the member states, to call directly on the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the Member States have conferred powers onto the EU level. This right to request the Commission to initiate a legislative proposal puts citizens on the same footing as the EP and the Council, who enjoy this right according to Art. 225 and 241 TFEU, respectively. The Commission holds the right of initiative in the EU. The start of the ECI was marked on 9 May 2012 (Europe Day) with the registration of Fraternité 2020. ==Historical background== The ECI has its origins in the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe in 2002-2003. Thanks to the tireless campaign work of pro-democracy activists and like-minded Convention members the ECI was introduced in a last-minute act into the Constitutional Treaty.〔Michael Efler: ''(How the Convention got convinced )'', 27 June 2003, citizens-initiative.eu〕〔Michael Efler: ''(A rollercoaster ride toward the ECI )'', 27 June 2003, democracy-international.org〕 In 2005, the Constitutional Treaty was rejected by the citizens of France and the Netherlands in two national referendums. In response, the heads of state decided to adopt 95% of the content of this rejected treaty and name it the Treaty of Lisbon – which was not put to the citizens for public approval except only in Ireland. On 13 December 2007, the Treaty of Lisbon was signed by all the EU Member States. On 11 November 2009, the European Commission published a Green Paper on the European Citizens’ Initiative, launching a public consultation process on the ECI.〔Green Paper on a European Citizens' Initiative. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0622:FIN:EN:PDF〕 The Council and the Commission came up with a preliminary compromise on 14 June 2010. After having produced several drafts and opinions that were discussed in the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions Committees, on 15 December 2010 the European Parliament finally voted on the ECI Regulation. After one year of negotiations, on 16 February 2011 all three main EU institutions: the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament agreed on a final ECI Regulation. Of note, Switzerland, which is not a member of the European Union, has several tools of direct democracy, such as the federal popular initiative (since 1848) and the optional referendum (since 1874). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「European Citizens' Initiative」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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