Written answers

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

European Citizens' Initiative

5:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 162: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm, with regard to the proposed European citizens' initiative, that Irish citizens living in the North of Ireland will be treated equally and will be counted as part of the 9,000 minimum figure for Ireland and that no extra verification will be required from these citizens. [10369/12]

Photo of Phil HoganPhil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The European Citizens' Initiative, which comes into operation in the European Union on 1 April 2012, will enable all citizens of the Union to participate equally in the promotion of citizens' initiatives for consideration by the European Commission.

For an initiative to be considered by the Commission, it must get the support of at least one million eligible signatories, with a minimum number of signatories in at least seven of the States involved, corresponding to the number of members of the European Parliament elected in those Member States, multiplied by a factor of 750. Thus, in the case of Ireland's participation in this capacity, the minimum number of statements of support required would be 9,000. Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on the citizens' initiative sets out the requirements on Member States in relation to implementation of the initiative. Article 3(4) of the Regulation provides that in order to be eligible to support an initiative, signatories are required to be citizens of the European Union and of an age to be entitled to vote in elections to the European Parliament. Annex III to the Regulation sets out the form of the statement of support that intending signatories in respect of any initiative are required to complete if they wish to support an initiative. Article 8 and Annex III of the Regulation set out the requirements in relation to the subsequent verification and certification by Member States of these statements of support. These provisions require that signatories of statements of support who are resident in Ireland should be submitted to the Irish competent authority for certification and verification. This will be done on the basis of such persons being entered in the Irish Register of European Electors or having an entitlement to be so entered. Statements of support signed by European Union citizens resident in Northern Ireland cannot, therefore, be taken into account in determining the number of statements of support from European Union citizens resident in this jurisdiction.

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