2. PATHFINDER: MIND THE GAPS – AND BECOME AN ECI PROFESSIONAL
Step 4: Design Language is a key tool of communication. In politics, communication is critical. And now you are about to launch a political project which will have to be communicated in up to 23 official languages of the European Union: in Estonian, in Portuguese, even in Greek with its non-Roman script. Obviously, you and your partners in this initiative are not total polyglots, nor do you have the resources to produce all those translations from the very beginning. But do not despair, what is important at this stage is to a) explore all the formal requirements for an ECI, such as setting up a committee; b) begin organising the online collection system; c) try to maximise the chances for admissibility of your ECI by careful attention to both content and structure; d) prepare yourself for the demanding signature gathering period by carefully planning your campaign. You may ask yourself why there should be so much work to be done already, even before formally filing your registration request at the official register at ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/. The answer is simple. As soon as you have pressed that famous “Send” button, time will become your biggest challenge and even enemy. When you eventually receive an email with your unique registration number, the 365 days countdown will have started. So our strong recommendation is: do as much as you can in your ECI campaign work before you request your registration number! a) Let’s start with the formal requirements. The ECI Law gives some clear indications here. You must:
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establish a “citizens’ committee of at least seven persons who are residents of at least seven different Member states” [ECILAW, Art. 3.2]. When it comes to the design of the committee you will have to pay attention to the fact that each of the core committee members – the members who will be registered officially on the “official register” (see Step 5) – must a) have the minimum eligibility age for EU Parliament elections (18 with the exception of Austria, where this age is 16), and b) be a resident of a different Member State (but can have the same national citizenship). You should also bear in mind that core committee members are not allowed to be elected to the European Parliament. While two core committee members must be designated as the official “representative” and “substitute” [ECILAW, Art. 3.2] – these will be the official liaison persons between the committee and the EU Commission – you are free to add as many individuals as you wish to your initiative committee, including MEPs, underaged persons and even non-EU citizens. When you are designing and composing your organising committee you should not only fulfill the formal requirements but also take into account the communicative benefit of having a wider variety of persons on board your own ECI “train”. In other words: the composition of your committee can, and even should, fulfill different functions. It must, of course, meet the formal requirements, but it should also mirror the pan-European nature of your cause, creating an efficient representation of organisations in your alliance and obviously involving bright, positive and useful people in your network. It will also be important to carefully choose the “official representative” and his/her “substitute”, as these people should not only be able to deal with public and media relations but will also be your primary liaison people with the EU institutions.