“Loud thunder, little rain” Participatory Democracy in the European Union

Criteria were: The subject matter of an initiative shall be within the competences of the Commission and allow the Commission to purpose a legislative act for the aim of the implementation of the EU Treaties. [...] Under the latest Regulation, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions are the new recipients of the formal response from the Commission to a successful initiative in Article 15. [...] In each case, two initial indicators are used – the title of the press release announcing the Commission’s reception of and response to a successful initiative, and its level of representation in the meeting with the group of organisers and the public hearing at the EP. [...] First, regarding the Financial Regulation, the Commission pointed out that existing articles guarantee that the EU budget complies with the Charter of the Fundamental Rights and the Treaties of the Union. [...] Regarding the new legislative proposal for phasing out the use of animals for the purpose of testing, the Commission shared the same position with the initiative and identified this as the ultimate policy goal.