Online petition system to allow EU citizens demand new laws

CITIZENS who want European Union action on an issue will be able to sign-up online, adding their names to the one million signatures needed to kick-start legislation.

Preparations for what is a new kind of public participation in politics are being finalised in Brussels and should be in practice early next year.

MEP Alan Kelly, who asked the European Commission whether people could add their name via the internet to a call for new legislation, said the move would kick-start the concept of e-democracy in Europe.

“This is an extremely exciting and innovative approach to policy making and is something I strongly welcome,” Mr Kelly said.

The citizens’ initiative is being introduced as part of the Lisbon Treaty and means that if a million people want it, the European Commission will bring forward legislation in areas where the EU has been given the power to act.

Detailed rules are currently being drawn up following submissions from member states and the public deciding how many countries the signatories must come from; the minimum number of people per country, the time limit for collecting support and rules on collecting, verifying and authenticating signatures.

“The internet is now Europeans’ principal method of mass communication and is a particularly effective tool for participatory democracy.

“We have all seen theMySpace and Facebook campaigns for political initiatives and how much citizens have got involved in trying to enforce democratic change. Given the advancement of information and communications technology, it should be possible to verify signatures online.

“Incorporating an online element to the Citizens’ Initiative will open the way for true, participatory democracy that would make the ability to gather signatures much easier and cheaper, and make debate in a European public sphere more possible,” Mr Kelly said.

He added that the level of debate about EU issues in Ireland is poor but if people realise that they can have an input into EU issues by submitting a signature online, they would be more likely to become engaged.

“In this way perhaps the communication barrier between Brussels and home can be broken down,” he added.