The European Citizens’ Initiative: A Useful Instrument For Society And For Citizens?

Resumen

The necessity to strengthen in a way or another citizen’s involvement in the
political life of the European Union (EU) is an old issue, but the fi rst unsuccessful attempt
to introduce it in a treaty, as a binding legal instrument, took place in 1992. Since then, the
importance of involving the Europeans increased constantly taking into account the political,
economical, and social realities of the 1990s and 2000s, which determined the leaders of the
Member States of the European Union to fi nd the best “political channels” to stipulate both
in the primary and in the secondary European legislation, as a “blank insurance” that this
right will be offi cially regulated and promoted at the European level.
Therefore, this article will examine, on the one hand the evolution of the European
citizenship and enshrining the political rights for the Europeans, and on the other hand will
present a brief history of designing this instrument, if the outcome of these political efforts,
namely the European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation (ECI), adopted in 2011, represents,
after all, a useful or un-useful instrument to be used by the citizens, having also the belief
that this supranational instrument will make the citizens more active in using this right of
initiative.