ECI, una iniciativa legislativa ciudadana para Europa

Mar 1, 2010 | Entradas

Hace una semana participé en un hearing, organizado por la Comisión Europea. Era la primera vez que era convocado en Bruselas a una reunión de estas características, en España había comparecido una vez frente a la Subcomisión de Inmigración pero la experiencia fue muy distinta. Esta vez se trataba de avanzar en la regulación europea de una Iniciativa Ciudadana, figura recogida en el Tratado de Lisboa que señala en un millón de firmas la cantidad precisa para iniciar el procedimiento legislativo comunitario, sin concretar mucho más. Tras la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Lisboa la Comisión quiere mandar una señal de cercanía a la ciudadanía y la aprobación de este instrumento sería un buen primer paso. La reunión puso de manifiesto que al interés de la Comisión se une el de la Presidencia de turno, española, que ha ido viendo como se retrasaban o venían abajo sus iniciativas (soluciones a la crisis, servicio exterior…) y parece haberse agarrado a la ECI como una tabla salvadora. El problema es que parece que los tiempos no permiten su aprobación antes del mes de junio, pero a juzgar por la actitud de López Garrido, el gobierno español está dispuesto a intentarlo con todas sus fuerzas.

El punto de partida de la reunión fue el libro verde aprobado el pasado mes de noviembre, y sometido a discusión durante los meses de diciembre y enero, durante los que ha recibido más de 200 sugerencias. La idea del hearing era ir concretando, aprovechando las experiencias locales, tanto desde la perspectiva de la administración como de las organizaciones que han utilizado el instrumento legislativo (en España la Iniciativa Legislativa Popular), a continuación cuelgo mi intervención.

Luego empezó un turno de intervenciones en el que, obviando las intervenciones previas, un buen número de los que habían enviado sus sugerencias repitieron su contenido, esta vez cara a cara, pero como si se tratara de un diálogo de sordos, desordenado y reiterativo, y por tanto, en mi opinión, bastante inutil.

Mi impresión general es que el debate está desenfocado, excesivamente centrado en el pasado, la experiencia del papel y sus infinitas dificultades, tanto para los organizadores como para la administración, y bloqueado por los intereses nacionales que discuten si establecer un mínimo de 1/4 o 1/3 de paises con personas firmantes. Sólo apostando decididamente por la recogida virtual de firmas, donde la ley española de 2006 y la reciente decisión de la Junta Electoral Central, pueden marcar el camino, se conseguirá una regulación de futuro y abierta a los ciudadanos. Además de garantizar la publicidad de las iniciativas, y algún tipo de medidas para aprovechar para ir fortaleciendo la sociedad civil… alguna de estas ideas las podeis encontrar al final de mi intervención.

Citizen iniciative: the spanish experience

Rafa Rubio. Professor Complutense University (Madrid) [email protected]

0. Introduction
Representative and Direct Democracy: Complementary local Character and character participating of the direct democracy. Never forget we are talking about the setup, no the entire legislative proccess

As Biscaretti di Ruffia said in his Constitutional Law Within the participation forms would be the faculty to initiate the procedure of formation of the formal law”

1. ILP in Spain

Historic tradition, from 1931 it needed the 15% endorsment of the citizens(art. 66)

1978 Constitution:
23.1 “ The citizens have the right to participate in public issues, directly or by representatives, freely elected by universal vote”

87.3 “The Popular Iniciative to present a law propousal will need not less than 500.000 signatures credited.It will not proceed law propousals about organic law, taxes or about internatinal afairs , nor with respect to the grace prerogative”.

Laws:
Organic Law 3/1984,26th of March, regulator of the popular legislative initiative. Ley Orgánica 4/2006, de 26 de mayo, de modificación de la Ley Orgánica 3/1984, de 26 de marzo, reguladora de la Iniciativa Legislativa Popular.

The jurisprudence makes clear that it is an instrument to materialize the participation right, but its instrumental character causes that it is protected by a resource before the Constitutional Court (against the decision of not admitting to proceeding this initiative, Art. 6)
Till now the experience is:
– Admited in procces: 62
– Renewed: 12
– Not admited : 15
– Out of time: 20
– Denied: 8
– Aproved: 1

2. Essential requirements
– 500.000 signatures
– Promoters ID
– Previous admission in which the nonexistence of an initiative on the subject is condition sinequanon
– Necessity to present an articulated text
– Sheets to gather teh signatures that will gather the plaintext
– Collection of signatures authenticated during the process,there is the possibility of authorization to special notaries
– 9 months term
– Public Finances, now 300.000 euros, to receive after success
– Consideration by the plenary session of the Congress (without possibility of defense from the promoters)

3. The ILP about marriage defence and childhood (2005)
– In front of the political will of the government to make an equal institution treatment of the marriage within the legal union of pairs of the same sex, including the adoption.
– Necessity to present the ILP before the legislative process in the institutions began, since the initiative of the government would block any later attempt.
– It was realised under the law of the 84, although the present situation would be quite similar, would only change to the term and the amount of the financing, with a great difference the possibility of realising it by electronic methods
– Admission of the proposal proceeding
– Proposal of the signatures book (a Booklet of 4 sheets, plaintext and 25 companies each).
– The proposal Approval
– Impression and validation (seal and numeration) of the first 80.000
– Special notaries distributed by all Spain look to gather the companies (sworn declaration and copies of his you go card)
– It begins the regional distribution, coordinators and the campaign of diffusion – After 6 months, it is necessary to ask for one prorogues that it is granted by other three months.
– The total of gathered signaturas are shown at two different moments

4. Results
– 1,5 million signs, but the Electoral Meeting counted up to 503,000 and it did not follow then, as the law demands 500,000, already could certify that the requirement had been fulfilled legal.
– 7300 Special Notaries
– The initiative was rejected by the plenary session of the Congress of the Deputies that decided not to take it in consideration

5. Results:
5.1 Efficency Policys
– Excuse for a mediatic echo that generates:
– Public debate
– Politic Pressure, negotation tool
–
5.2 Improvable experiences facing the ECI
– Imprecision of the promotional Commission and its faculties.I think that we should define clearly its attributions and to facilitate its work with possibility of receiving from the institutions technical advising to facilitate the fulfillment to them of the formal requirements as it raises the Catalan Law and to guarantee the effectiveness of the text once presented before the institutiones.
– Consider that although the EC recognizes the ownership of the initiative, the Regulations of the Cameras demand that the proposal of popular legislative initiative happens under a consider proceeding , turning it into an initiative proposal. This has brought about the initial rejection of many proposals, all that had obtained the signatures except one. This system has received innumerable critics ,in which they consider that the EC attributes to the electoral body have the same ownership that to the Congress reason ,why would it be not enough, once admitted the proposal to proceeding by the Table (guaranteeing the formal requirements), to demonstrate the adhesion of the signatures.
– Holders: Physical people, in Spain the Art. 13,2 it reserve only to the Spaniards., and confirms the Art. 1 of the LOILP “the Spanish citizens of legal age who are enrolled in the electoral roll” ( includes the resident nationals abroad). Next to the necessity obvious to extend the ownership to the resident citizens of the Union in countries different from his origin, would not be others to consider the proposal to extend the ownership to majors of 16 years, including the resident foreigners legally in Spain, something coherent with the present tendency that it looks for to extend the right of vote of the resident foreigners, since it makes Catalan law 1/2006

Although it is restricted for the physical people, it would have to consider the possibility of allowing to the legal people the possibility of integrating themselves in the Promotional Commissions, to grant major stability and independence.
– Defense infront the camera: Although the Spanish legislation it asks for a document that explains the convenience of transacting and to approve the proposal (independent of the exhibition of reasons) would be advisable to replace this superfluous and merely formal document that is only asked for in this case (whose function would be covered with the exhibition of reasons). In addition the defense of ilps in the cameras would have to be admitted, something that the law if it guarantees to the proposals that emanate of the Independent Communities that can delegate a maximum of 3 members so that they defend the initiative, something that is not clear the Promotional Commission. This takes shelter in Catalan Law 1/2006 and others like Aragon, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Galicia, that allow the appearance in Commission of the citizens.
– Gathering of signatures: For the traditional methods 9 months, it can be little, of the possibility of prorogues there by other 9.
– Electronic national identity document: The greater insufficiency of the Spanish law was the absence of forecast of the electronic company/signature. The reform of the law in 2006, the Statutory law that regulates the popular legislative initiatives, in its article 7,4 was limited to indicate that the companies could be gathered » also like electronic signature according to which correspondiente» establishes the legislation;. The door to a series of possibilities in this line and, the University of Murcia, through its Area of Technologies of the Information was abrió thus and Communication (ATICA, has developed an application to facilitate the collection of supports to the popular legislative initiatives through electronic national identity document that counts on the endorsement of the Central Electoral Meeting, according to agreement adopted the past 28 of January. This supposes a radical change in the dimensions of the initiative (number of companies, terms, validation…)
– Another improvable element in 2005 was the uncertainty on the incorporation in the Daily routine of the Parliament, before to discrección of the table, today settles down a maximum term of 6 months from the 2006 reform. – Retirada conceder el derecho a solicitar su retirada en cualquier momento, al considerar que se ha desvirtuado la propuesta.
– Not lapsing although is not dissolved the Cameras.
– Financing is reviewed annually, establishing a term for the payment. Another good idea, also of the Catalan Law, would be the possibility of granting advance payments.

Although they do not derive from my direct experience I consider good to end up indicating some other proposals for the ECI:

– For the European regulation, I believe that it would be reasonable to request an absolute number of signatures and a minimum percentage by country to guarantee that the propousal is trully » european». In Spain that makes the law of CyL that requests the absolute number (I believe that they were 25,000) that at least of the total there was a 0,… % of the census of each province of the terrotories
– Obligatory Publicity (online)
– Authorization to the promoters and the institutions on the part of the signers to maintain the contact facing information, future actions, debates, etc.