Dr. Marek Jeżewski in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, 20 August 2012

Dr. Marek Jeżewski in Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, 20 August 2012

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna asked Dr. Marek Jeżewski to comment on the fact that only ten projects have been submitted to the European Commission under the European Citizens' Initiative. This is a small number compared with that of the EU’s total population, which exceeds half a billion.

The reason that only ten projects have been submitted is mainly due to the complicated procedures imposed by the EC which can take up to 21 months.

In the article titled "EU effectively filters citizens’ projects", Dr. Marek Jeżewski states that such complicated procedures have their advantages.

"Procedures ensure the proper representativeness of ideas set out in the initiative. They prevent the submission of projects by narrow interest groups. Therefore, only those European citizens' initiatives (ECI), which relate to matters important to the larger group of citizens have any chance” - says Marek Jeżewski from Kochański Zięba Rapala & Partners law firm.

According to Dr. Jeżewski, such filtration of projects causes only important initiatives to be submitted. "Problems tackled in the motions concern inter alia consumer rights, environmental protection, voting rights or legal protection of life, i.e. fundamental issues from the perspective of the citizens".