European Citizens’ Initiative: The Commission grants extensions to citizens’ initiatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Today, the Commission decided to grant a three month extension for the European Citizens’ Initiatives due to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The extension relates only to the Initiatives, which are currently collecting statements of support. Initiatives that were in the process of collecting statements on 1 November will benefit from a three months extension, while those that started their collection after 1 November and before this decision will benefit from an extension until 1 February 2022. A first set of extensions was already granted in July, when the European Parliament and the Council agreed on a Commission’s proposal. The Regulation granted a six months extension to initiatives that were in the process of collecting statements of support on 11 March, when the World Health Organization announced that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a global pandemic. The regulation allowed the Commission to grant further extensions of maximum three months in case of a new outbreak or a resurge. The text of the Commission Decision is available online and more information available on the European Citizens’ Initiatives website.