Citizens' voice

From 2012, EU citizens will be able to ask the Commission to propose legislation once a million signatures have been collected in at least seven member states. The number of signatories required from each country depends on the size of the population and varies from 3 750 to 74 250.

János Martonyi, Hungarian Foreign Minister
and President of the General Affairs Council, and
Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament,
after the signing in Strasbourg
© András Kovács, Hungarian Presidency

This citizens' initiative, a major innovation based on the Lisbon Treaty, was given the final go-ahead on

16 February in Strasbourg by the Council and the European Parliament.

A user-friendly guide on how to make use of the citizens' initiative will be available on a dedicated website in all official languages of the EU.

More information:
Go-ahead given to the European citizens' initiative (pdf)
The citizens' initiative on the Hungarian Presidency website