Socialists to put Lisbon treaty to the test as EU institutions argue over use of citizens’ initiative.
The provisions in the EU’s Lisbon treaty to permit ‘direct democracy’ are to be put to the test by a socialist call for an EU-wide tax on financial transactions.
The centre-left parties of Germany and Austria announced on Tuesday (18 May) that they will launch a petition this summer to push for legislation on such a tax. Under the terms of the Lisbon treaty, they have to raise at least one million signatures “inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers,” to submit a legislative proposal.
But the treaty left to be determined the procedures and conditions for such a petition and the EU institutions are still arguing over how the so-called European Citizens’ Initiative should work. One of the points to be decided is what additional thresholds have to be passed, in terms of the number of member states represented and in what proportion, by the petition’s signatories.
The Commission is proposing that signatures are needed from at least nine member states, with a minimum number of names from each country, determined by the same formula that is used to allocate seats in the European Parliament.
The Commission is proposing that the initiative would have to be formally filed via a special website, after which organisers would have one year to collect the signatures either by hand or online. An initial check will be done once an initiative is filed to see that the proposed petition abides by European rights and values. A second check is done once 300,000 signatures have been obtained, to see whether the subject falls under the EU’s legislative powers and is viable.
Many MEPs, however, want to make it easier for citizens to file an initiative. They are calling for initiatives to include a minimum of only seven EU nations and to give organisers up to 18 months to collect the signatures.
The MEPs are just beginning their review of the Commission’s 31-page proposal, but without waiting for the outcome Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the leader of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Werner Faymann, Austria’s chancellor, announced their plans for an initiative on a tax on transactions.
Brian Synnott, spokesman for the Party of European Socialists (PES), said that the aim of the signature drive was to raise awareness of the need for such a tax and to push the issue onto the Commission’s agenda.
“The point is to show how much support there is for it,” he said, adding that the PES group was confident it would get the one million signatures required.
But Gerald Häfner, a German Green MEP who sits on both the petitions and constitutional affairs committees, said: “This is not what we made the initiative for. It is an instrument for citizens and is not in the first place for political parties.”
Zita Gurmai, a Hungarian centre-left MEP who along with Alain Lamassoure, a French centre-right MEP, will draft the Parliament’s report on the Commission’s proposal, said she would aim to include a clause to limit the provision’s use by political parties and MEPs.
Gurmai and Lamassoure, among others, have already presented an extensive list of changes that they want to make to the proposal – which threatens to delay its implementation. Maroš Šefc?ovic?, the European commissioner in charge of the plan, had set an end-of-year deadline for having the rules in place.
The Spanish government, which holds the presidency of the Council of Ministers, aims to get a political agreement among ministers in June, but the Parliament will only present its first working paper by then.
“Many details have to be settled before this citizens’ initiative is operative,” said Gurmai. “This is not an easy exercise at all.”
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