The European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) slowly limps towards the starting line, heralded by the still novel to them, Facebook chat. It has been long argued that the initiative has been shaped to the needs of lobbyists and NGOs, rather than the ordinary citizen.

The complexity of the workings, the high level of technical and other resources put the whole damn thing out of the reach of the half billion citizens. It has been grasped by the lobbyist industry and the NGOs, and what has been Commissioner Sefcovic’s response?

In the disastrously poorly attended Facebook chat, I asked him, What exact steps are you going to put in place, and how many staff, to weed out astroturf organisations? He replied by saying, “the ECI has been constructed in order to ensure that it is citizen-driven: Citizens' initiatives cannot be run by organisations. In order to be launched an initiative has to be backed by a Committee of 7 citizens from 7 Member States. And of course to be successful 1 million citizens must support that initiative. And I really hope that citizens, and especially young people, will embrace this new tool.”

So, I asked if that is true, why are so many organisations preparing initiatives?

The Commissioner clarified, “I don't see any problem with organisations being involved and supporting initiatives. In many ways it is easier for organisations to start the ball rolling but at the end of the day, without initial support from citizens, to form the committee, and support from at least 1 million citizens overall, an initiative won't get anywhere, therefore I am not too concerned with the idea that lobbyists will hijack this new right.”

Well, the commission has never been overly concerned about the activities of our business buddies, but this is something that, ten long, long years ago was meant to be for citizens. Most lobbyists and NGOs are happily found wandering around the institutions; the initiative was intended for those without that access.

The blasé attitude of the Commissioner, was once again brought out at a conference introducing the ECI. In a hall in the Charlemagne building, packed with NGOs and lobbyists, some of whom arrived mob handed as they say. 

Sefcovic said in his keynote that he didn’t share the concerns over lobbists and that he saw “nothing intrinsically wrong” in lobbyists playing a full part in the ECI. As the participants drank the vile coffee, they could see that Google, Facebook et al were there in full force, with stands and speaking slots on the panel debates.

They unveiled their new website and a deeply, deeply boring man gave an interminable explanation of how to use it. Funnily enough, at this point, as they all congratulated themselves on the glory of social media, Anonymous was successfully blowing a hole in the European Parliament’s website.

The fundamental dishonesty is calling the ECI after citizens. It’s a lobbyist playground, either for big business – and one major lobby firm is openly announcing “The European Citizens’ Initiative is not a tool reserved for NGOs; corporations can use it too.” This is followed up by “team of seasoned public affairs and online communication professionals can help you monitor emerging European Citizens’ Initiatives, assess their potential impact, and support you in launching your own ECI.”

The commissioner and his team have no problem at all with this; because they know only lobbyists and large NGOs will have the resources to use the ECI. It was designed that way.

It keeps the plebs out.

ACarling@NEurope.eu