Keywords
citizens’ initiative
efficiency
law-making
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Abstract
The article attempts to answer the question about the role that the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) plays in reducing the democratic deficit of the Union. The effectiveness of this institution has been analysed using the example of the Minority SafePack – a proposal to adopt amendments that would serve to ensure greater protection of the rights of national and linguistic minorities and to strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU. The text analyses the reasons why the Commission took a negative stance. On the one hand, the subject matter of the proposal itself is one of them. The European Union, in its justification, states that it has no competence in relation to many of the proposals contained the initiative. In addition, there is also a general reluctance of the EU to deal with minority problems, mainly due to the fact that they involve issues that are sensitive to the Member States, such as national identity and linguistic diversity. On the other hand, the rejection of the proposal is an expression of a general tendency. The Commission is very sceptical about applications submitted under the ECI, refusing to register them to a prohibitive extent. This state of affairs certainly does not allow the ECI to be described as an effective tool that contributes to the reduction of the democratic deficit in the EU.
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