This conference is free and open to the public. However, pre-registration is required.

The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is the world's first tool of transnational, participatory and digital democracy. A major innovation of the Treaty of Lisbon (Article 11.4), it allows one million EU citizens to invite the Commission to submit a proposal for a legal act to implement the Treaties. The ECI aims to both increase citizen participation in the EU and make the EU more responsive to citizen needs.

The ECI attracted great citizen interest early on, but has since lost much of its original appeal. Since April 2012, 51 ECIs were officially submitted and 31 were registered by the Commission, including five which were submitted twice. Over six million citizens signed an ECI. Three ECIs have succeeded in collecting one million signatures. Three ECIs are currently ongoing.

Regulation 211/2011 implementing the ECI is currently up for review. The Commission has presented a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application of the ECI Regulation. Both institutions are now preparing their response.

With this conference, we open up the debate, hear from a variety of stakeholders and reflect on how the ECI might be improved. Experiences using the ECI from campaigners, national authorities and EU institutions have yielded much valuable information. They suggest that improvements are needed if the ECI is to fulfil its promise to citizens of greater democratic participation, function efficiently for all parties and be a positive force within the European Union.