The European Citizens‘ Initiative – Chances, Constraints and Limits. IHS Political Science Series No. 134, April 2013

摘要: In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of establishment European Union citizenship under Maastricht Treaty in 1993, year 2013 has been designated by Commission as ‘European Year Citizens’. The Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) – labelled a ‘direct gateway through which citizens can make their voices heard Brussels’ - may emerge awareness new appealing platform for policy-shaping and communication. ECI, its transnational vox civilis character, figures among most important novelties Lisbon long run facilitate accelerate bottom-up building demos. question is, however, whether mechanism pan-European signature collection is strong enough face democratic challenges present EU, especially during ongoing financial crisis.