Starting on April 1st 2012 one million EU citizens, from at least seven member states, have the opportunity to invite the European Commission to submit a proposal for a European legal act. This European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a new channel for the EU citizens to set the agenda, but it does not directly involve them into EU law-making. The Commission or the European Parliament might regard the ECI as a threat to their established roles in EU politics. Formally, the ECI does not touch upon the Commissions’ exclusive right of initiative, but in practical terms successful initiatives could force the Commission to become active. Currently, the European Parliament regards itself as the representation of the citizens’ will on the EU level, but organisers of initiatives will claim to represent the interest of special constituencies. As the first initiatives will not be set off before April 2012, this paper cannot give empirical evidence on the introduction of the ECI in the political systems. Thus, the institutions’ reaction to the ECI will largely depend on how they perceive the ECI: Is it a threat to their established role or is it chance to improve EU democracy? Based on a discourse analysis of documents from the decision-making process and the implementation of the regulation on the citizens’ initiative the paper will identify the structures of meaning that different EU institutions apply to the ECI. Based on these structures of meaning the paper will present some scenarios changing roles of the Commission and the Parliament caused by the introduction of the ECI.
