We have received your invitation to join the group of organisations which plans to launch the project named "European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI)". We regret to inform you that Newropeans will not take part in this project because we reckon that it is in complete opposition with the logic of democratisation of the European Union, which is the core of Newropeans action.

On the one hand, the project purpose in its essence is contrary to what it announces. It will not provide more initiative to European citizens, but will reinforce the bureaucratic power of the European Commission. The "right of petition" for which this project calls for support by a million European citizens is certainly not a "democratic right", because if it were set up, it would grant the European Commission with the fully arbitrary right to take action or not in the case of petitions undersigned by more than one million European citizens. According to Newropeans, democratising the European Union means to give the initiative to citizens without bureaucratic controls and to reinforce citizens’ power and the power of their representatives, in particular in the European Parliament.

On the other hand, the project suffers practical flaws, such as the lack of definition of conditions for validating the collection of signatures throughout the UE. This added to the legally and politically complete incapacity to transform into a concrete measure any collection of signatures at the European level, jeopardize this operation that will result in a vast loss of energy, citizen goodwill and motivation. In a word, Newropeans is convinced that even if this initiative were managing to collect a great number of signatures, it would lead to nowhere because it would request a Community Treaty, signed and ratified unanimously, to register it into European texts. Besides, you underline yourself this institutions lack of competence in this area.
For Newropeans, it is essential to stop involving citizens in dead-ends that only lead to the frustration of those which invested time and energy there.

Therefore, Newropeans does not join this project, and in its quality of first trans-European political movement, warns citizens against an initiative that, if it were to succeed, would reinforce the powers of the European Commission to the detriment of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. In the future, Newropeans will systematically state its position on European citizens projects, with a view to indicate if they are compatible or not with the democratisation process of the EU called on by Newropeans.

For those who wish to witness the successful wedding of the European project with democracy, Newropeans has chosen the difficult but necessary path of creating the first trans-European political movement that will propose candidates in all EU countries at the June 2009 European elections.

Thus, Newropeans calls for abolishing European Commission’s monopoly of initiative and for giving the European Parliament a complete right of initiative (proposal 5). Newropeans supports the setting up of a trans-European referendum for all new enlargements of the EU and for voting on European Treaties (proposal 3). As for the petition right, Newropeans currently works out a proposal which will appear in its program for 2009 and which will set up the European Parliament the recipient of petitions, without any interference from bureaucrats in the procedure.

The big meeting date of the European Union with its people, its citizens and democracy will take place in June 2009, during the next European elections. All those which want to really see the Community system changing and being democratized have on this date a true political meeting with our 500 million fellow-citizens.

We invite all citizens, members or not of existing organisations, that want to be part of this historical step in the European construction to join Newropeans instead of wasting their time in projects which lead to similar dead ends as the May/June 2005 consultations. We have a complete program to work out, a campaign at the continent level to set up and June 2009 as an unambiguous cut-off date. In other words, any goodwill is welcome.

Should no trans-European political movement in the June 2009 electoral arena be able to demonstrate that democracy and Europe are compatible, we must be well aware that extremist and nationalistic forces will take it over.

For Newropeans, there is neither time to go, nor energy to lose in playing the "beggars for democracy". Power is to be won. If the European citizens want it, it will be necessary that they get into the electoral arena in June 2009. Anything else would appear illusion and waste of time in the best case; fraud in the worst case.

Yours sincerely.

For the Comite Directeur of Newropeans

Franck Biancheri
President
Newropeans