The European Court of Justice will today (Tuesday 16 May) hear that the European Commission was wrong to refuse to introduce the One of Us initiative for debate at the European Parliament.
One of Us, a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), called on the commission to block EU funding for activity involving the destruction of human life, including human embryo research and the promotion of abortion outside of Europe.
The commission refused to introduce the initiative, even though it was the most successful ECI in history, gathering nearly 1.8 million signatures.
An extended composition of the European Court of Justice will hear the One of Us Federation application this morning (Tuesday 16 May) in Luxembourg.
Paul Diamond, Standing Counsel to the Christian Legal Centre, will be making the arguments, and Roger Kiska will assist him.
An ECI is a mechanism aimed at allowing European citizens to actively participate in making laws at the European level.
It allows EU citizens to propose new legislation to the European Commission.
Proposals must gain 1 million signatures across at least 7 EU member states and be within EU competency, as well as fulfilling several other requirements.
If successful, the commission must introduce the proposal into the law making process.
One of Us is the most successful ECI in history, gathering nearly 1.8 million signatures. It is one of only three ECIs to ever reach the required number of signatures.
Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, commented:
“We are dealing with an historic case. The ECI was introduced to cure the perceived democratic deficit in Europe.
“The European Commission has denied the One of Us proposal because it finds the measures politically inconvenient. This is the very embodiment of democratic deficit.
“We are asking the European Court to affirm the voices of 1.8 million European citizens, and protect the lives of many millions more who face destruction simply because they are preborn.”