’Nothing about us without us – Rien sur nous sans nous’

European Citizens’ Initiative welcomed

Greenpeace trying to deliver 1.000.000 no-GMO signatures in Brussels on 8-12-2010

It won’t create ’our’ Europe on the spot, the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) the European Parliament adopted in December. But for advocates of democracy like MEP Gerald Häfner it is an important first step, he said during the 9 th Heerlen seminar in Amsterdam in November, a step which, if properly implemented, ensures that hugely supported claims like that for equal rights for the disabled or a ban on GMO crops will no longer be ignored.

Il ne créera pas «notre» Europe à la minute, l’initiative citoyenne européenne que le Parlement européen a voté en Décembre. Mais pour les défenseurs de la démocratie comme le député allemand Gerald Häfner c’est un premier pas crucial, at-il déclaré pendant la 9me séminaire Heerlen à Amsterdam en Novembre, une étape qui, si elles sont correctement mises en œuvre, assure que les demandes de droits égaux pour les personnes handicapées ou d’une interdiction sur les OGM, ne seront plus ignorés.

Follow-up: the Network will, in the framework of its ’Europe of Citizens’ project, announce a new project this spring.

Report: Øyvind Strommen

When democracy lobbies managed to include the right of initiative in a blueprint for the future EU, it was as if they brought out the spirit from Aladdin’s lamp. Proposals were popping up everywhere. But one of the few that met the 1 million limit was 1 million 4 Handicap, which, on 4 October 2007, asked, on behalf of 1.232.771 Europeans, for equal rights for the disabled.

High Hopes

When, after having heard her admit that the Union so far ’has failed to be inclusive’, hundreds of blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound and mentally less equipped from all over the continent sent a mass of coloured balloons into the Brussels sky, said Aurélien Daydé from the European Disability Forum, they had high hopes. ’That we would not be ignored anymore, that we would get a meeting with the Commissions’ president Barroso, and that a EU directive would be announced.’

Three years after, however, there is still no sign of even a draft. ‘We had the satisfaction that, with this campaign, we had brought disability organisations from all over the continent around the table. But for many campaigners as well as signatories, the lack of response brought a lot of frustration as well.’

Embarrassed

Greenpeace has had a similar experience after having offered its million-odd signatures against new GM crops on European fields in October 2010. Whereas the handicapped had been out on the streets to get handwritten proofs, the environment multinational used professional online petition specialist Avaaz to mobilise the masses. But it didn’t even manage to meet a Commission representative live yet. ’The Commission seems too embarrassed’, said GP spokesperson Herman van Bekkem, ’to find a time to meet’.

Häfner (l.) & Daydé (r.)

Such blunt treatment will soon be impossible. Once all member states have decided how to fill in the practical details, the Commission will be obliged to respond. And the Europeans will have their first instrument of direct democracy.

For Gerald Häfner, MEP for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, and (besides being a member of the EGP supporters’ team) co-founder of Democracy International, one of the initiators of the ECI, a crucial threshold will be crossed. ’Bringing in the citizens in the EU’s decision making process is the most important challenge for the Union today’, he said, ‘because it is the only way the EU can move from a union of governments to a union of citizens.’

Object of choices

‘Democracy is the very key for good solutions for all other issues’, he said. ’Nothing about us without us’, the slogan the European Disability Forum used, is a basic democratic idea. For centuries, people have been the object of choices made by others. But today they want to be engaged and involved. And it is time we recognise that. Because people have the right to decide how they want to live, to organise society, and move towards the future. And because the decisions to be made, depend upon who makes them. When people engage, they don’t kneel in front of a ruler but become actively engaged. Through participation, people become citizens.’

Distant

On a European level however, he said, this citizenship doesn’t yet exist. ’We don’t have European discussions. We have, in each nation state, discussions about Europe, which are not linked. People don’t feel they are European citizens. They perceive Europe as something distant.’

The citizens’ initiative is an important first step towards a change, he concluded. ’But much, much more is needed – like European wide referenda.’

Farmers and consumers

For Van Bekkem, the instrument doesn’t only bridge the gap between people and institutions; it also allows citizens to counter big companies. ’Lobbyists from multinationals focus on economic profits, rather than on farmers and consumer interests. The citizens’ initiative will be an important instrument for them. It allows us to say what we want to have on our plates, rather than having it decided by these companies.’

For Dayed the tool is important because ’it makes us feel that we are citizens, and can be smart enough to structure our networks effectively.’

Evil directive

Some in the audience were more sceptical. What if the initiative were used against foreigners or Muslims, how should Greens respond?’ ’Indeed’, said Dayed, ’what if some evil people ask for an evil directive?’

Häfner: ’Initiatives are open to everyone. ’And I appreciate they are, because all issues need to be brought to the table and discussed. Within the framework we have given ourselves: the European charter of fundamental rights.’

The next question to pose us as Green politicians is, how to respond to such claims in an open and democratic way.