EU Civil Society Contact Group submission for the EU 'citizens' initiative' consultation

The EU Civil Society Contact Group (CSCG) brings together eight large NGO sectors - culture, environment, education, development, human rights, public health, social and women. The members of these sectoral platforms are European NGO networks. They speak for hundreds of thousands of associations across the Union, linking the national with the European level, representing a large range of organised interests. Our objective is to encourage and promote a transparent and structured civil dialogue that is accessible, properly facilitated, inclusive, fair, and respectful of the autonomy of NGOs. We have called for and support the Citizens' Initiative which is now enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty. In our view, this is an important new step to increase public participation in EU decision-making. We welcome the fact that the European Commission acting now to implement this provision, and that it begins this work with a public consultation on the modalities for implementation. Attached are our answers to the questions raised in the Green Paper. We reserve the right throughout the rule-making process to adjust our positions in light of the concrete proposals that the Commission will put forward.