25-06-2025 16:30
Public hearing on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI)
The Committee on Petitions will hold a public hearing on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Cohesion policy for the equality of the regions and sustainability of the regional cultures" with the participation of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, the Committee on Culture and Education the lead Committee on Regional Development on 25 June 2025, from 14:30-17:30
The Citizens' Initiative was officially submitted to the European Parliament President on 31 March 2025, after obtaining 1,269,351 validated statements of support from EU citizens, and reaching thresholds across eight Member States.
The initiative calls for legislative proposals aimed at ensuring the equality between regions, with special attention to be paid to regions with national, ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic characteristics that are different from those of the surrounding regions, in order to prevent their economic backlog, preserve their cultural characteristics and diversity and thus contribute to their economic, social and territorial cohesion. The ECI considers that such regions must have equal opportunities to access various EU funds and that their proper economic development and conservation of cultural specificities must be guaranteed.