The Commission has officially received the second successful European Citizens’ Initiative, with properly validated support from at least one million European citizens in at least seven Member States. Support for the One of Us ECI, whose organisers call on the EU to ‘establish a ban and end the financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, in particular in the areas of research, development aid and public health’, has been checked and validated by the national authorities of the Member States. Support for the initiative outstrips support for the first successful ECI, Right2Water, both in the number of Member States where a minimum threshold of support was reached, and in the total statements of support. Support crossed the minimum threshold in 18 Member States (Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain). Overall, the ECI received 1,721,626 validated statements of support. The ball is now in the Commission’s court. Within the next three months, it must invite the organisers to Brussels to explain their ideas in more depth, and a public hearing will be arranged in the European Parliament. Then the Commission must decide whether it will act by adopting legislation, act in some other way to achieve the goals of the ECI, or not act at all. Whichever route is taken, the Commission must explain its reasoning through a Communication adopted by the whole College of Commissioners.
Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEX-14-0228_en.htm
