The european citizens' initiative: A useful instrument for society and for citizens?

Abstract

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 first 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 find 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 officially 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.