madam president first i want to congratulate zita gurmai and alain lamassoure for this report
i strongly welcome the citizens initiative mechanism
it is a very positive grassroots initiative
it will serve to greatly reduce the democratic deficit between the people and the european union institutions
notably it gives citizens a platform to express and propose ideas for european legislation
the need for a minimum of one fourth of all member states to collect signatures for the initiative ensures that the initiative will represent the need for a legislative proposal by a cross-section of society
finally i would like to stress that it is important to have full transparency regarding the founding of the initiative and sources of financial support for the organisers
