Theoretical Aspects On The “Legislative Initiative” – Right Of The European Citizens

The Lisbon Treaty states that “Every person holding the nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship”. The quality as a European citizen offers rights stated for the first time by the Maastricht Treaty. A major novelty in the area of the rights as a European citizen is brought by the Lisbon Treaty which states the right to initiative of the citizen of the Union’s Member States. In this regard, the Treaty states that “not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties. The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 11 of the Treaty on European Union and Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union”. We wonder what is the purpose of this Union’s treaty? Given that the Lisbon Treaty states in general terms this right without studying the procedure itself, the secondary Union regulation is meant to amend the treaty. In this regard, Art 2 of the Regulation explicitly defines the usual terms of the procedure namely, “citizens’ initiative”, “signatories” and “organizers”.