The organisers of the “One of Us” citizens’ initiative are challenging the European Commission’s rejection of the Initiative before the General Court of the European Union.
The initiative, which called on the EU to stop financing embryonic stem cell research and other practices that destroy unborn life, garnered over 2 million signatures, but the European Commission decided not to refer it for debate in the European parliament because EU policy in this area had been “only recently discussed and decided.”
One of Us called this action an “unconstitutional veto” and are challenging it before the General Court, which hears cases brought against the institutions of the EU.
They allege that the Commission did not provide any legal reason for rejecting the initiative, and that they violated the objectives of the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to “encourage the participation of European citizens in the democratic process.”
In their application to the court, they also accused the comission of ignoring many of the points raised in the petition. They said that the Commission did not respond to the assertion that the human embryo is a human being; and while Commissioner Maire Geoghehan-Quinn said that embryo research is not “encouraged”, in fact such researched is financed by EU institutions.
In a press release, One of Us said that regardless of the merits of this particular initiative, it was important to clarify whether or not the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) has any real influence over EU policy.
Gregor Puppinck, Director of the European Centre of Law and Justice and one of the leaders of the One of Us campaign, said in a press release that “The One of Us application sets a clear alternative for the General Court of the EU.”
He continued “either this application will be successful, in which case the ECI will become what it was intended to be: a meaningful and practicable instrument of participatory democracy; or, it will be rejected, which would mean that the ECI is a fake mechanism of participative democracy.”