One year of Experiences with the European Citizens’ Initiative
Julian Plottka, Research Associate at the Institut für Europäische Politik, presents a first assessment of the European Citizens’ Initiative in his short article, “Langer Anlauf – kurzer Sprung?,” nearly 12 months after the registration of the first ECI on 1 April 2012. He warns that the new instrument will not live up to high expectations regularly expressed, but he shows that it has the potential to strengthen EU democracy. The first year of practical experiences shows that there is high interest in the ECI, even though technical problems prevented many organizers to start the online collection system in due time.