EC Did Not Register Citizens’ Initiative Against Immigration

The European Commission deemed unacceptable the request to register the citizens’ initiative “Act to Save Europe” aimed against immigration, stating it is contrary to EU values, but did register an initiative for a freer internet.

In the “Act to Save Europe” initiative, the Commission is called upon to “propose to the Union an act establishing a temporary moratorium on new immigrants from non-Western countries, including visas for study and family reunification, along with a fundamental reform of the EU migration and asylum system.”

The organizers of the initiative stated that the moratorium should be based on the “ethnic and cultural continuity of the native peoples of Europe” as opposed to what they describe as the “demographic replacement by non-Western and non-European” migrants.

The Commission concluded that this initiative does not meet the conditions set out in the Regulation on the European Citizens’ Initiative, which stipulates that it must not be manifestly contrary to the values of the Treaties and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

“The initiative must contain a genuine proposal and not be used as a vehicle for offensive and caricatured messages,” the Commission explained, adding that the criterion for the proposed moratorium would constitute discrimination on the basis of race or ethnic origin, and therefore the initiative cannot be registered.

At the same time, the Commission registered the initiative “Stop Killing the Internet: No to Digital ID and Age Verification,” and its organizers now have six months to open a 12-month signature collection period.

The organizers of that initiative are calling on the Commission to propose “legislation that will ensure that digital identity and age verification systems used to access online services in the Union remain voluntary, protect privacy, and are non-discriminatory.”

The European Citizens’ Initiative was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty and officially launched in April 2012. Since then, 135 initiatives have been registered.

Registration of an initiative allows at least one million citizens from at least seven EU member states to call on the Commission to propose a legal act in the relevant area, but registration does not affect the Commission’s final decision.