Fondation EurActiv PoliTech released the public beta-version of the Initiative.eu platform, the online community to federate stakeholders for European Citizens’ Initiatives, today. 

The ECI is one of the major innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon, aimed at increasing participatory democracy in the European Union. Citizens can bring forward EU policy proposals, if supported by 1 million people from across at least 7 EU Member States. The official kick-off date for the ECI is April 1, 2012.

“The aim of Initiative.eu is threefold” said Daniel van Lerberghe, Co-founder of Initiative.eu and Director Social Media at Fondation EurActiv PoliTech. “Initiative.eu provides a set of online tools for potential ECI initiators to formulate and debate their ECI ideas. Initiative.eu will also help stakeholders across Europe to bring together their initiatives and forge stronger coalitions. And last but not least, Initiative.eu will improve the quality of the ECI initiatives before they are officially registered and obtain the support of 1 million citizens.”

Initiative.eu was launched today at the Warming up to the European Citizens’ Initiative conference hosted by Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission Vice-President responsible for the European Citizens’ Initiative process. “European Citizens' Initiatives will open a new chapter in the democratic life of the EU. Driven by citizens themselves, they will offer a direct line to Brussels and foster truly pan-European political debates. Initiative.eu is exactly the sort of creative, bottom-up response that I hoped to see, and I congratulate Fondation EurActiv PoliTech on their efforts” said the Commission Vice-President Šefčovič.

Christophe Leclercq, Co-founder of Initiative.eu, introduced Initiative.eu at today’s conference in the session on ‘The potential for using social networks’ alongside representatives from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Dailymotion and the Gartner Group. “Initiative.eu is a small but unique contribution to help ECI initiators ahead of the formal registration process”, said Leclercq. “But the ECI also has the potential to liven up EU policy debates. And when it does and where relevant, EurActiv’s editors, present in 15 capitals, will cover the debates generated by the ECIs. I see, for example, the first ECIs already succeeding in 2012. And the ECI will also be used as a tool in the formulation of the political programmes in 2013 and during the election campaigns ahead of the European Parliament elections in 2014.”

Also today, EurActiv.com is starting Special Report coverage on the Countdown to the European Citizens’ Initiative. Today’s article is based on an interview with European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič. The full transcript of the interview is also available. The ECI Special Report coverage will continue until Tuesday, 31 January 2012.

Further information on Initiative.eu 

Initiative.eu is an initiative of the Social Media Department of Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, which also runs the blog platform BlogActiv.eu. 

Partners include La Netscouade, the leading French social media consultancy behind French Presidential campaigns. 

These are the 5 pillars of the Initiative.eu platform:

 Initiate – ECI initiators can create a space to grow their ECI and gather support

 Debate – submit ideas on the ECI debates of their choice

 Support – as stakeholders, they can follow the ECIs of their choice

 Join – create a profile and participate in the ECI polls, surveys and all of the above

 Explore – Just wandering around? Be our guest !

You can also follow Initiative.eu on Twitter @Initiative_eu / #Initiative_eu and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/initiative.eu). Introductory videos are available on our YouTube channel. 

Media contacts:

Daniel van Lerberghe, Co-founder of Initiative.eu & Director Social Media, Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, +32(0)2.788.36.92, socialmedia@euractiv.com

Dominique Ostyn, Senior Manager Communication & New Media +32(0)2.788.36.88, communication@euractiv.com 

Christophe Leclercq, Founder & Publisher, EurActiv.com; Co-founder of Initiative.eu & Fondation EurActiv PoliTech, +32(0)2.226.58.13, publisher@euractiv.com

Note to the editor:   

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