European Citizens's Initiative

European Citizens' Initiative Ing. Vladimír Bartovic This thesis deals with the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) - an instrument of participatory democracy, which for a decade has allowed European Union citizens to influence the legislative process by asking the European Commission to submit a legislative proposal. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate the implementation practice of the European Citizens' Initiative in the context of the case-law of the General Court and the Court of Justice of the EU and to analyse the new regulation on the European Citizens' Initiative. The thesis analyses reasons that led to the creation of the European Citizens' Initiative - especially the question of the existence of a democratic deficit. It analyses the embedding of the ECI in the primary law of the Union and compares it with other instruments of participatory democracy and similar institutes of the indirect legislative initiative available to the European Parliament and the Council. The thesis briefly deals with the first ECI regulation from 2011, its legislative process and its implementation at the national level. The core part of the thesis is the analysis of the application of the regulation in practice. It provides an overview of initiatives and summarises the positions of EU institutions, civil..