Proposals to bring ECIs to citizens and citizens to ECIs Christophe LECLERCQ Co-Founder of Initiative.eu & Founder EurActiv.com fondateur@euractiv.com Daniel VAN LERBERGHE Social Media Director & PoliTech Founder daniel.van.lerberghe@euractiv.com
speaker s background: policy media network "Warming up for the Citizens' Initiative 2 26/01/12 European - European Citizens Commission Initiative Day Charlemagne 2013: Sign up Building, to it!" Brussels 09/04/13 - EESC, Brussels 2
EurActiv Community 3
NEED FOR QUALITY BEFORE REGISTRATION: PLATFORM INITIATIVE.EU + HELPDESK? 4
ECI PROMISING BUT NOT CATCHING LIKE (SOCIAL MEDIA) FIRE... Great participative innovation, amazing Treaty left-over from Constitution attempt Limited communication, no help desk etc : even experts & NGO leaders know little yet too late to avoid initial situation 'the good, the bad, the ugly. (meeting all criteria, lacking legal basis and support, lacking even fit with EU values). Could liven-up EU debates: Not just euro-crisis, but civil society & indignés / indignados etc EurActiv family is committed to ECI. (EurActiv.com + 15 Country Network + BlogActiv.eu + Fondation EurActiv PoliTech + EUX.TV). Social Media: great potential, but not supporting EU policy making yet: we have ideas in mind Initiative.eu: small but unique online contribution to help initiators 5
THE ECI OFFICIAL PROCESS 6
INITIATIVES: MAIN STAGES PHASE I: ALLIANCE BUILDING PHASE II: EU OFFICIAL ECI PROCESS PHASE III: EU POLICY RESPONSE FEDERATING STAKEHOLDERS: INITIATORS EUROPEAN COMMISSION REGISTRATION WEBSITE HELPDESK? NATIONAL epetition PORTALS COMMISSION / PARLIAMENT FOLLOW UP & OTHER MEDIA 7
CIVIL SOCIETY TO DO MORE TO ASSIST ECIS Pre-launch assessment of whether ECIs have the potential to succeed. Organisational (Legal, Translation & IT) and Communication assistance should be provided through a civil society led help desk. Civil Society led HelpDesk as foreseen by MEP Gerald Hafner (EP ECI Rapporteur) VS EC National Contact Points Network. Greater cooperation and unity between civil society organisations resulting, for instance, in the creation of a civil society help desk. 8
ECI: 1 YEAR LATER Opportunities to take advantage of the 2014 EP elections. Tackle social issues in Southern Europe, for instance, have so far not been seized. No registered ECI has reached all the criteria to qualify for hearings Right2Water only ECI to reach 1.6 M signatures, but only in 5 MS. Still problems with the online collecting system. Efforts from the EC to solve this. Legal side well handed BUT political timing AND COMMUNICATION was neglected. 9
SEPARATED SPHERES? SOCIALLY NETWORKED, YES WE CAN! Civil society: initiatives Social media: relays Media: coverage 2014 ELECTIONS ECI: Proposals DEBT CRISIS 2013 PLATFORMS Institutions & Political parties: policies eparticipation: experts egovernment: tools Grass-root movements: Frustrations 10
Civil Society Led Helpdesk 1 Lessons Learned: Need for a 1-stop-shop support, beyond EU formal advice, providing 4 complementary skills: Legal aspects is your proposal conforming with regulation? IT aspects support for online aspects in collaboration with EC IT advice & connection with social media. Translation aspects Advice on translation strategy and issues. 2 Promotion Campaigns & Communication aspects a) Promote ECI at EU, National and Local level. b) assistance to ECI promoters in cross-border campaigns and communication. Requirements: Create a multi-disciplinary infrastructure of support for the organisers of ECIs. Raise awareness among civil society organisations and with the general public of the ECI potential, particularly in the run-up to the European elections in 2014. Evaluate the progress with European Citizens Initiatives in light of the 2015 evaluation point. 3 Call for Action: Formal support from the EU Institutions and mainly the EC to make this necessary HelpDesk a Reality. 11
Next Steps Action 1*: Run a survey amongst ECIs - with questions agreed by the Civil Society Partnering Organizations. Action 2*: Prepare a two-pager recommendations as a follow up to the conference and in preparation of the next ECI Conference (November 2013). * Actions decided at the pre-conference meeting (8/4) between Democracy International, ECAS, Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, IRI, hosted by the EESC. 12