Citizens’ Initiatives and Environment: The Potential of the European Citizens’ Initiative for Influencing the Policy Agenda in Environmental Law Matters

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) was introduced bythe Lisbon Treaty (Art. 11 (4) TEU) as an innovative mechanismof participatory democracy1 enabling EU citizens toinfluence the policy agenda of the EU. Its scope covers allfields of EU competence for which the European Commissioncan propose a legal act of the Union. Its use is of particularrelevance for areas of collective interest, such as theprotection of the environment or public health. It thereforecomes as no surprise that environmental protection is oneof themost common subjectmatters among initiatives submittedto the European Commission for registration so far.2The ECI thus adds another weapon to the arsenal of environmentalparticipatory rights. The present contributionaims to assess the use of this instrument as a means for influencingthe policy agenda in environmental law matterssince the adoption of Regulation (EU) No 211/2011