MEPs discuss Citizens' Initiative with Ombudsman

MEPs discuss Citizens' Initiative with Ombudsman

(...)What is the role of the European Ombudsman in handling the Citizens' Initiatives that can now be proposed, under the Lisbon Treaty, by one million EU citizens? Who decides which initiatives are admissible and on what grounds? These were among questions put by MEPs of the Constitutional Affairs Committee to the Ombudsman on Monday. The committee is currently debating the Commission's proposal on the Citizens' Initiative, a new instrument in the Lisbon Treaty enabling one million citizens to ask the Commission to table a draft law. European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros met with the MEPs on Monday to give his views on this new procedure. (...)