Speak up! Act up! The Lisbon Treaty, in force since the 1^st of December 2009, introduces a new form of public participation in the EU policy shaping, namely the European Citizens´ Initiative.

EU nationals had already the right to petition - a request to change something, usually focussing on perceived infringements of European Law made to the European Parliament. Public consultations in different policy areas have also become quite frequently in the overall attempt to fill the gap between citizens and the EU project. The high abstention in the last European elections showed that many still perceive it as a far away Brussels affair.

Now the renewed right of initiative intends to go a step further. It allows grassroots proposals for new legislation. This right was up to now a prerogative of the three EU institutions. Now citizens are also entitled to express themselves, take the lead and participate in the decision-making.

The European citizens’ initiative, as referred in the Treaty, enables a minimum of one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of member states to call directly on the European Commission to bring forward an initiative of interest to them in an area of EU competence.

However, how realistic and effective is this new right? How many countries are “a significant number” of member-states? How many signatures per country are needed? What are the eligibility criteria for a citizen to present a proposal? What form should it take? The European Commission is precisely trying to find it out exactly.

Indeed, the Treaty (that raised so much discussion in the last 7 years) remains vague and does not spell out the procedures and conditions to implement such an initiative, leaving much work to be done before a regulation is approved. Accessibility and being representative are two of the major concerns that the new law needs to balance.

Therefore the Commission has launched a Green Paper on a European citizens’ initiative and consequently, following this democratisation tendency, it has opened a public hearing running until the end of January to try to answer all the questions above. The aim is to seek the views of the different interested parties in how it should work in practice. The EU executive hopes to have this regulation in place by the end of 2010.

Individual and professional organisations´ contributions to this consultation process should be sent to the Commission by 31st January 2010, either by email to the address:

"ECI-Consultation@ec.europa.eu",

 or by post to the following address:

 European Commission, Secretariat General

Directorate E "Better Regulation and Institutional Issues"

Unit E.l "Institutional Issues"

Along with the citizen’s right of initiative, the Lisbon Treaty brings a new breath to increasing the participation of citizens and civil society in the European integration process by considering the civil society organisations role in this process and by enlarging the powers of the European Parliament and the regions.

This might be an opportunity for the arts and culture sector to use its creativity in being active and get its voice heard! The more EU legislation influences our daily lives, the more important it is to open up channels for citizens and civil society to articulate their concerns toward European decision makers. The time has come for civil society to assume a more prominent role. Talking is no longer enough, we have to learn how to organise and act together to find new ways for democracy. Let’s take the change and try it out!

PS – By the way, there is another public consultation taking place (deadline: Jan 15) on the future EU 2010 strategy. Fostering creativity and innovation as well as research and education are part of the main priorities yet the role of the arts and culture is not referred at all. You are still on time to have a say!