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If you collected 100,000 signatures and the legal advice forces a change in the text, you'll have to re-do those 100,000 signatures.

If you collect 100,000 signatures and then you get legal advice that what you propose is incompatible with the treaties, then what?

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 17th, 2010 at 01:16:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Then it's even worse. Hence I am in favour of ex-ante checks.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sun Jan 17th, 2010 at 01:19:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
But you cannot make them free of charge and provided by the EU on a limited time frame without some sort of safeguard that prevents jamming the system with frivolous requests.

One possibility is analogous to the way running for Parliament works in the UK. If I am not mistaken, you are required to submit a large number of signatures or pay a deposit of £500 which is refunded if you get more than a rather small amount of votes.

So, for instance, a petition might have to pay the Commission for the ex-ante legal advice, with the cost of the advice (1000 euros, give or take ?) being refunded if the petition obtains more than (say) 100,000 signatures.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Jan 17th, 2010 at 01:26:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, the refund idea makes sense, even if I can't think of a precedent for jamming the system with frivolous petitions. (But maybe that is just because of such deposits are part of existing petition/referendum systems.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sun Jan 17th, 2010 at 01:34:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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