Foundation on European Citizens’ Rights, Involvement and Trust

ECIT is a think tank working exclusively on European citizenship and advocating a holistic approach to it.
The aim is that it should become a multidisciplinary resource bringing together different aspects of this transnational citizenship – a virtual and physical meeting place for dialogue and knowledge sharing among the scattered community of interest involved.

Ecit has three main objectives:
1. Place Union citizenship in a broader framework.
Only a European citizenship based not just on territory, but also on values and one which is on a continental scale can achieve enough popular appeal to unite people of diverse cultures, languages and histories. European human rights instruments provide the best available expression of common values of democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law. Any transnational citizenship has special features and should not be seen only through the lens of national citizenship. Rights to free movement, equal treatment and non-discrimination acquire a particular prominence in order to achieve access to each other’s national territory and services, as well as corresponding responsibilities. Any transnational citizenship is fragile and faces the challenge of how to bridge the gap between the fine legal principles and the way fellow citizens are treated as foreigners on the ground. Hence emphasis has to be placed on enforcement, enactment of European citizenship, open and democratic institutions.

2. Bring about a more coherent citizenship within the European Union.
To develop European citizenship on the basis of the European Union requires a more coherent approach, in order to increase public understanding and support. What is European citizenship? Certainly it is more than just the limited set of rights in Articles 18-25 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Pieces of citizenship are scattered across the EU treaties, Institutions and committees, so that it becomes everyone’s and no one’s responsibility. As a result, the tendency for any citizenship to mean different things for different people and academic disciplines is reinforced, so that it can end up an abstraction. In line with a consensus that any citizenship involves rights, involvement and trust, these guidelines bring together in such a framework the fragmented citizenship of the Union. Indeed those components of any citizenship stand or fall together.

3. Introduce reforms for a full-scale European citizenship.
The advantage of a holistic approach is that it becomes easier to perceive gaps and ask why certain rights and policies are in place and not others. Why is it that European citizens resident in other EU countries can vote and stand in local and European but not national elections? Why are the Treaties a more effective basis to combat some forms of discrimination than others? Why in the European Union are some procedures for citizen participation well regulated with rights of appeal, whereas others remain purely voluntary? Can the channels of communication between citizens and the EU Institutions really work if people are not better informed and educated in the first place? Is it just a question of creating democratic institutions or of creating more European citizens?

The three main aims, mentioned in the previous section, bring together 12 proposals for reform to develop European citizenship:
• A more preventative, collective and problem-solving approach to the enforcement of European rights
• Creation of a European free movement solidarity fund
• Full political rights for European citizens
• A more inclusive approach to European citizenship extended to legally resident third country nationals
• Wider citizen access to EU policy-making by making voluntary systems mandatory, user-friendly and
multilingual
• Increased regulation and transparency in lobbying practices
• Drawing up a European law for the fair and regular conduct of citizen participation practices as a pillar of EU decision-making
• Easier to use Citizens’ Initiatives, whereby over one million people can demand a European law
• Fostering a civil society for European citizenship
• A right to be informed and an introduction of education for European citizenship in schools
• Creating in stages an entitlement for all European citizens to participate in a European exchange programme
• A European citizenship card making it easier to prove such an entitlement, enforce European rights, sign European initiatives and vote in European elections.
Most of the reforms should with political will and pressure from citizens themselves, be introduced without changes to the EU Treaties. One exception is the revision clause itself – Article 25 (TFEU) – which is far too restrictive to allow this common citizenship to develop, requiring a special procedure and unanimity in the Council of Ministers. Instead, the normal democratic procedure is advocated, with the European Parliament as co-legislator and majority voting in the Council. With a clearer understanding of what it is and an ambitious reform agenda, a full-scale European citizenship can fulfil a role of holding the European Union together and building solidarity.

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No lobbyists with EP accreditations

None declared

Mr Tony Venables (Founder)

Mr Tony Venables (Founder)

IV - Think tanks, research and academic institutions

Think tanks and research institutions