Back in November, I blogged about the Citizen Initiative — a concept entrenched in the Lisbon Treaty. I am interested in this because of its direct relevance to the world of open governance. Open governments are transparent, and invite collaboration and participation. I believe that the initiative is about making all of that possible in the EU — by creating a direct link between citizens and the institutions where it is so needed that 1 million such citizens demand it!
Beautiful.. but how will it work? And will it? Simon Busuttil, one of Malta’s MEPs wrote in The Times of Malta today and gave some insight to answer the first question. I still would like to see more people comment on how this initiaitive will exist in a world that always gives more space to the social media. Will the EU lag behind the US? Will we continue to ignore social media?
Derrick Pisani 
Relevant post on Peter Cruickshank’s blog:
Security for signatures: petitions and the European Citizens’ Initiative (http://spartakan.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/security-for-eci/)
Hi Derrick – thanks for the link :-)
I reckon that if done right ECIs can add another channel for democratic input – but if done wrong, it could be a bureaucratic nightmare, or just another lobbying tool. So it’s good to see people (especially politicians) discussing how the ECI will work on the ground.
On the subject, it might be worth checking out another of my posts too – http://spartakan.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/discussing-the-eci-in-edinburgh/ – where I’ve put down some thoughts on the practical issues that need to be thought about when implementing the ECI. I’d be interested to hear what you think…
Cheers