On Thursday, the Civil Liberties, Culture, and Petitions committees will hold a public hearing on the initiative that collected “one million signatures for diversity in Europe”.

The initiative’s organisers aim to improve the protection of people belonging to national and linguistic minorities, and to strengthen cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU. They will present their proposals for potential legal acts, in the presence of MEPs from several EP committees and representatives of the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the Committee of the Regions.

The joint hearing is organised by the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee and the Culture and Education Committee, in association with the Committee on Petitions. It is the first European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) hearing to take place remotely.

When: 15 October 2020, 9:00 - 13:00.

Where: European Parliament in Brussels, József Antall building, room 4Q2, with remote participation.

You can watch the hearing live here. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, journalists are strongly advised to follow it online.

Background

The EU introduced European Citizens’ Initiatives in order to enhance direct democracy. A group of citizens can put forward an initiative and, if more than one million citizens from at least seven member states support it, then the European Commission has to take action.

Parliament was instrumental in 2019 in reforming the rules for ECIs to strengthen citizens’ voices, and again in 2020 in ensuring that the COVID-19 pandemic will not impede ongoing and future initiatives.