Mojca Erman, Legal Expert for the Seek Advice service of the Forum: Do not hesitate to contact us, we are here to help!

Mojca Erman is an attorney, and an EU legal expert based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 2018 she has been one of the legal experts working for the Seek Advice service of the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum. In this interview, she explains how the service supports initiative organisers and provides some tips on how to formulate a request for support that would deliver the best results.

Mojca Erman:  My expertise is European law, specifically on the provisions of the Treaties and the law adopted on the basis of these Treaties. In my daily life, I'm also engaged with issues related to data protection, artificial intelligence, and the protection of fundamental rights. As an attorney, I also represent clients before the national and European authorities.

I was attracted to the ECI Forum’s Seek Advice service because I think the purpose is very positive as the European Citizens’ Initiative is one, if not the only way citizens can participate in shaping the EU and have their voices heard.

The purpose of the Seek Advice service of the ECI Forum is to help organisers launch their initiatives and run their campaigns. In practice, this process starts when the organiser fills in the required form on the Seek Advice page of the Forum specifying that this is a legal enquiry (in order to access the seek advice function, you must first log in or register to the ECI Forum). Once the form is submitted, the ECI Forum team sends the enquiry to the legal experts.

When the enquiry is received by the legal experts, the following process occurs:

The legal expert checks the legal basis of the initiative, whether the subject matter fulfils the conditions, and whether the purpose and the aim are well stated. If we believe that this is not the appropriate legal provision for the proposed initiative, then we propose to the organisers to reformulate their initiative and we also assist the organisers by trying to find a Treaty provision which enables the organisers to propose a binding act for their initiative.

From experience, we have had many instances where we ask the organisers to specify in more detail the objective of their initiative. We have also had instances where the organisers’ objectives imply changes to the Treaty itself. For these cases, we informed the organisers that ECIs cannot request the Commission to propose changes to the Treaties. In cases when a certain topic proposed by the organisers is outside the competence of the European Commission to propose new rules, we inform the organisers and advise them on how they can adapt the initiative.

In practice, the most frequent questions submitted are about the legal basis on which the initiative should be based, and about what act should be proposed to the Commission with respect to the subject matter that they address. We have also had questions relating to the procedural aspects of the initiative. Due to the fact that the number of words in the initiative proposal is limited, and in some cases the organisers wish to present more facts and more background information, we inform the organisers that they can submit an annex; additionally, if they propose a new act, they can even attach a draft proposal of such act. This happens rarely, but it is also an option to be considered by the organisers.

From experience, I noticed that some questions relate to areas where the Commission has no competences or only supportive ones. I also noticed that in some cases organisers are quite ambitious and want to have a binding law adopted when only soft non-binding law is possible. For example, we received questions related to social housing or a universal income. There are areas where Member States have the final word and where the Commission has only supportive function and can not enforce a harmonised approach, but can only propose coordinating or supportive measures to achieve the EU policy objectives. When binding harmonising law is proposed by the organisers in these areas, we need to inform them that this is not feasible and that only soft law (guidelines, etc.) can be adopted in these areas.

We also received an interesting initiative proposing to establish the right to education about European citizenship. For this seek advice enquiry, we proposed to the organisers some guidelines and incentive measures that can be proposed in order to enact cooperation between the Member States in regard to European citizenship education.

In the past five years, I have covered a variety of topics and I provided advice to these three official European citizens’ initiatives: Stop (((5G))) – Stay connect but protected, Reclaim Your Face and Ensuring the dignified reception of migrants.

I think the biggest challenge in formulating an ECI is defining the legal basis,  finding the right Treaty provision on which the initiative will be based, and examining whether it concerns the policy area where the Commission has exclusive competences, shared competences or the supportive competences.

Learn the essentials of the European Citizens’ Initiative, including the areas of competence of the European Commission with our free online course.

To organisers, I would advise that when submitting a seek advice request, they provide as much information about the planned ECI as possible. Remember, your ECI must be within the framework of the Treaties! If your ECI is outside the scope of the Treaties and not under the competences of the Commission, it will most likely not be registered. Also, if your ECI is solely based on international treaties, this falls outside the scope of the European Citizens’ Initiative.

I would also definitely advise checking the European Citizens’ Initiative website for previous initiatives, and also to check whether these initiatives were accepted or rejected; what was the reason why they were rejected, and how the initiative can be improved with a new proposal for an initiative on a similar issue. Additionally, I would urge organsiers to register to the ECI Forum, as there are many very helpful features are available: advice and information to organisers, webinars, guidance notes or success stories.

A few key takeaways:

• Do not forget to register to the European Citizens’ Initiative Forum;
• Be aware that you cannot propose a change of the Treaty;
• Be specific in your initiative; and
• Mention a legal basis (a Treaty article) on which your initiative is based.

For any advice on legal matters, don’t hesitate to contact us, we are here to help.

Watch the video with Mojca Erman on the legal support provided by the Forum

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