How to Leverage the Seek Advice Function to Launch a Successful Initiative – Lessons from ECI Day 2023

The European Year of Skills took centre stage at this year’s edition of ECI Day on 8 June, hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). ECI Day 2023 focused on the skills organisers need to make their initiative a success. During this highly anticipated event, the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) Forum team held a workshop exploring how to turn your idea into a European citizens’ initiative, with interventions from Stéphanie Poppe, organiser of ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’ initiative, and Ioana-Virginia Motoc, an Associate at Freshfields law firm.

The workshop began with introducing the ECI Forum as an online collaboration platform, available in all 24 EU languages, that provides advice and information to (potential) organisers before, during, and after the process of launching and implementing an ECI. This workshop focused on one particular support tool, the Seek Advice function on the ECI Forum. The Seek Advice function provides tailor-made and independent advice to potential and current organisers of European citizens’ initiatives in any of the official EU languages. Through this tool, organisers receive legal advice, advice on campaigning,  fundraising, or any other relevant topics to the European citizens’ initiative. All Seek Advice enquiries are answered by relevant experts. This workshop focused specifically on how legal Seek Advice enquiries can assist organisers in turning their idea into a European citizens’ initiative.

Caption: Legal Seek Advice Process

The Seek Advice Function is a vital support tool for potential and current ECI organisers. In the past three years, there have been roughly 143 Seek Advice enquiries, with an overwhelming majority in legal enquiries.

Caption: Graph with number of enquiries over the past three years. 

Read on for the key takeaways of the workshop, including advice to future ECI organisers and common mistakes to be avoided.

Caption: Stéphanie Poppe, organiser of ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’ initiative. @EU2023 – Source: EESC

Harnessing the tools available on the ECI Forum to launch a successful initiative!

The first speaker, Stéphanie Poppe, organiser of ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’ initiative, shared her first-hand experience registering and launching a European citizens’ initiative with the support of the ECI Forum. In her intervention, Stéphanie explained that her team decided to use the ECI to promote European citizenship and develop citizens’ ownership of issues they care about. Her team invited the people of Rennes to collectively build a European citizens’ initiative together through a participatory process. First, they launched a call for ideas where citizens were invited to develop ideas for potential initiatives. Afterwards, they held thematic workshops where citizens could construct prototypes of potential initiatives. Finally, more than one thousand citizens voted on the 12 proposed initiatives, ultimately selecting the ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’ initiative. This initiative resulted from a creative effort among many stakeholders, NGOs, local communities, and academics, based on the idea of secondary school students.

According to Stéphanie, the European citizens’ initiative drafting stage can be difficult for citizens but not out of reach! To formulate an initiative, citizens are required to delve into European Union law, whether they are experts or not. As such, the organisers sought support from the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) Forum. As shown in the image below, the organisers used the Seek Advice mechanism twice, asking for legal advice and amending their draft proposals according to the feedback before registering their initiative with the European Commission.

Caption: Overview of 'Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants' initiative drafting process.

Stéphanie shared lessons learned and advice for future organisers:

• Zoom in on existing documentation, read consultations on secondary legislation before drafting and get an overview of the different positions of NGOs and other stakeholders.
• The ECI Forum is your best friend! ECI organisers have supportive tools such as the ECI Forum, a highly useful body providing very concrete practical and legal advice on what (potential) organisers need to consider and do to get their initiative registered.
• Zoom out from the complexity of the legislation. The ECI needs to gather at least one million signatures, so your proposal needs to be understood by everyone. It is difficult to make a proposal simple if it is complicated from the start.

Clarity, clarity, clarity!

The second speaker, Ioana-Virginia Motoc, Associate at Freshfields and a vital part of the Seek Advice process, shared with participants how citizens can maximise their chances of getting their initiative registered by the European Commission, a first critical step towards turning an initiative into a concrete legislative proposal.

Ioana-Virginia began her intervention with some concrete advice: think like a lawyer (ie.: think very concretely about what you wish to achieve with your initiative) to unleash the full potential of your initiative. It is important to remember that the European Citizens’ Initiative aims to achieve legislative change. Therefore, involving the assistance of legal experts will greatly increase your chances of registering an initiative successfully.

Caption: Ioana-Virginia Motoc, Associate at Freshfields and member of Seek Advice Team @EU2023 – Source: EESC

Before drafting an initiative, Ioana-Virginia recommends organisers think about their proposal thoroughly and look at the provisions of the TFEU and the Guidance Notes available on the Learn page of the ECI Forum. In her view, it all boils down to having clarity on what you, as an organiser, are asking. This rule of thumb also applies to your Seek Advice request. If you have clarity on what you want to ask from the European Commission, the Seek Advice team can help you find the relevant treaty provision and translate your request into useful advice for your initiative. You can also consult the Seek Advice team if you do not have such legal knowledge on your initiative idea and to see if the EC has a legal competence in regards to what your initiative is asking for.

According to Ioana-Virginia, the recipe for a successful initiative is to draft an initiative that falls under the European Union’s competence and that there is a provision in the policy field that would allow the European Commission to start the procedure. With these two main ingredients, there is a high chance that the initiative will be registered successfully. If, at this stage, your proposal doesn’t achieve these criteria, the Seek Advice team is there to make suggestions to ensure that the initiative is well drafted. If the initiative is out of scope, the Seek Advice team can check whether the European Citizens’ Initiative instrument is the best way to achieve your objectives.

To close her presentation, Ioana-Virginia shared common mistakes to avoid when drafting an initiative:

• Merging multiple ideas – Ideally, from a communication/campaigning perspective an initiative has one proposal seeking one outcome. In case you have multiple objectives, it is important that those objectives are spelled out clearly.
• Initiative is out of scope – It is important to do you homework and utilise the Seek Advice to avoid drafting initiatives that are out of scope because the European Commission will not have the authority to act on this topic, decreasing your likelihood of registering your initiative.
• Focusing on narrow issues – While a first-hand or local experience can inspire an initiative, it is good to reflect if you can broaden your topic to resonate with other people across the EU and see how your proposed legislative change can positively impact the lives of citizens across the European Union (at least one million!)

Don’t miss out on the valuable insights shared in this workshop – dive into the full recording and empower yourself with the knowledge to turn your idea into a European citizens’ initiative.

Suggested reading

• Power up your ECI campaign with shared knowledge and pro advice 
• Make it Known, Make it Fun, Show Them the Impact!
• ECI Day 2023 – “How-to…Turn your idea into a European citizens’ initiative” (Full video)
• Interview with Seek Advice Legal Expert Mojca Erman