EuroPetition in relation to the eParticipation 2008 Work Programme

The EuroPetitions project specifically addresses section “II.1.4 Petitions” of the eParticipation 2008 Work Programme to develop “tools that can be used to allow the public from across the EU to discuss ideas and create an online petition on EU issues” and use such tools “in a number of cross-border decision-making cases and therefore are relevant also in many legislative and decision-making processes.” EuroPetition provides a practical way to support and encourage petitioning for Local and Cross Border issues, as well the coordination and submission of pan-European EuroPetitions.

EuroPetition will be a flexible tool that, as part of its implementation, will focus on involving citizens to create an accessible and inclusive online community – a social network – of people interested in Democracy.  From this strong basis the Local Authorities will be able to focus attention on different democratic areas, and coordinate cross-border and a pan-European Citizens Initiative EuroPetition.  Initially each of the sites will focus on specific legislation of immediate importance to them, from an EU and then local level, and subsequently expanding to all EU initiated legislation and policies. However the EuroPetition users will also be encouraged to raise issues which are of general public interest as well.