The European Citizens' initiative : Next big thing or new false good idea ?

The ECI is a new concept in a new Treaty, and has barely been implemented.
Any conclusions must therefore remain quite limited. However, three years after
the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, nearly one year after the entry into
force of Regulation 211/2011, and with a bunch of registered initiatives, a few
things seem already clear.
1. This new mechanism has not drawn until now as much attention as some had
hoped.
Many reasons could explain this. The mechanism is complicated. It requires
much time, attention, energy. A lot of conditions are required simply for an
examination by the Commission of the possibility of taking an initiative. Everybody
is still in a learning process. Furthermore, the attention of the public opinion
has been largely taken until now by the tsunami of the financial crisis.
2. In the present setting, the conditions for an ECI appear relatively heavy.
Any project requires a bunch of signatures in at least eight Member States. This
is not always simple, considering the variety of national political cultures, and
also the languages barrier. Many Member States, we have seen, ask their citizens
a personal ID number when they sign an ECI.
3. The ICT aspects have been widely underestimated (at least by the present
author).
The European Citizens’ initiative is not only the first transnational instrument
of modern direct democracy, but the first electronic transnational instrument of
modern direct democracy. This electronic aspect is due to various geography,
languages, and costs constraints. It is an essential component of the system. This
requires a certain level of commitment. In the present context, the existing software
and hardware also require a certain level of commitment.
4. Many interesting questions will still rise in the next years
The European Union is only at the beginning of a long and complex process,
with many new (and sometimes unforeseen) aspects. The only certainty we have
presently is that it has not reached the end of its surprises yet.