The Party of the European Left is planning to enforce in its own way the new disposition approved by the Council and the European Parliament. This  disposition gives the chance to open a debate, which can then lead to a decision of the EU, answering a request of one million European citizens. The petitioners have to be old enough to vote in European elections and as a whole have to represent at least seven Member States. Their “Declaration of support” must contain their name, surname, address, nationality, date of birth and the number of an ID card. Obviously this information has to be collected, verified and kept in such conditions that the laws on personal data protection are respected. The online collection of signatures is also possible.
We remind that for the Party of the European Left this represents a chance for citizens to make a request, which brings a major political innovation, standing out against the current politics of austerity and submission to the domination of financial markets: the creation of a European Fund for social development and solidarity. This Fund is intended to offer low-rate or even no interest loans for public investments meant to create employment and to develop education, research, public services, useful infrastructures,  environmental projects. The originality of this Fund lies essentially in its financial sources: it is at the same time the product of a taxation on financial transactions, low-rate or even no interest loans from the ECB so as to get rid of the domination of financial markets (money creation), together with a substantial contribution of the community budget.
It is clear: enforcing this disposition from the Treaty of Lisbon does not mean in any case that we will support its regulations! What we do care about is to offer citizens, according to their experience and considerations, a chance to make their main leaders more responsible and to start a political process favourable to those radical changes which are needed to handle the crisis now scourging the Euro area and, in general, the EU. Thisis why we will not spare any effort, so that this process is set by the contribution of every organisation or personality which shares this initiative.

The European regulations enforcing the “Citizen’s Initiative” will not  presumably take effect before the beginning of 2012. The so-called  collection of the “Declarations of support” will only be possible during next year. On the other hand, the Party of the European Left will have to make the most of 2011 in order to create such conditions as to take up its ambitious challenge on the European scale. This mobilization will turn notably into awareness initiatives, on the field and online (for this purpose a list of arguments will be elaborated and updated regularly), and into the organisation, during the whole year and in various European capitals or major cities, of theme-based meetings with trade union representatives, militants from associations, experts, and at the same time big public conventions within a European dimension.

The Executive Board of the EL has established a work team which is commissioned to follow this campaign.