Oct. 9 (DPnet).– On 22 July, the European Commission refused to register the European 
Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) Save Europe Act. In the respective decision, the Commission argued for the first time that the initiative is manifestly contrary to the values of the Union under Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU Charter). The Commission has made it clear that participatory democracy cannot be used to promote the “fight for remigration”, as the organisers describe their proposal on the ECI website. The decision has since been challenged before the General Court (Case T-621/26).
The Commission’s decision illustrates to what extent the ECI legal framework can prevent the instrument from being used in ways that run counter to the values of the Union. More broadly, it extends the general debate on the protection of Union’s fundamental values to the realm of transnational participatory democracy.
The Discriminatory Nature of the Initiative
The ECI Save Europe Act is encouraging remigration, recognising the collective identity of native peoples of Europe and supporting the restoration of demographic balance as opposed to demographic replacement.
As summarised in paragraph 3 of the refusal decision, the aim of the Save Europe Act initiative is:
... to call on the Commission to propose a Union act establishing a temporary moratorium on new non-Western immigration channels, including study and family reunification visas, while fundamentally reforming the EU migration and asylum system. The act should strengthen external border protection, rapid screening and return procedures, and provide for the systematic and accelerated remigration of illegally staying migrants, rejected asylum seekers, and further categories of non-European migrants whose continued stay places a serious burden on Member States. It should also ensure mutual recognition of return decisions across the Union, stronger cooperation with third countries on readmission, and the removal of welfare pull factors that encourage further migration into Europe.
Save Europe Act is therefore calling for immigration-related measures raising serious concerns under the principle of non-discrimination. As the Commission has emphasised, the proposed generalised moratorium would discriminate on the basis of race and ethnic origin and would not be grounded on “migration-management criteria” but rather on the ethnic, cultural or civilisational origin of the persons concerned (paragraph 5). Furthermore, the ECI is based on “ethnic and cultural continuity of native peoples of Europe” and talks of “demographic replacement by the non-Western and non-European migrants.”
According to Commission, this discriminatory criterion relies on the assumption that non-Western criteria refer exclusively to external migration flows and third-country nationals whereas the initiative in fact targets European citizens of non-European and non-Western origin (paragraph 6). Consequently, Save Europe Act does not satisfy the conditions for registration, as it is manifestly contrary to the principle of non-discrimination under Article 21 of the EU Charter and the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU.
This is the very first time that the Commission has made such an assessment of a proposed ECI.
The First Application of Article 6(3)(e) of Regulation 2019/788
This tool of participatory democracy is defined in Article 11(4) TEU. It enables the European citizens to invite the European Commission to submit a proposal on any matter where they consider that a legal act of the Union is required to implement the Treaties. To that end, the ECI must receive the support of at least one million persons across the EU. However, prior to publication for support, the Commission controls that the initiative satisfies admissibility requirements set out in Article 6(3) of Regulation 2019/788. These are, shortly, that it is not manifestly: outside the Commission’s powers; abusive, frivolous or vexatious; contrary to EU values or fundamental rights. If the initiative meets these criteria, it can be registered by the Commission, and the organisers can begin collecting statements of support.