1 million signatures for popular democracy

The much heralded "citizens initiative" to change EU laws has been given a cautious welcome by MEPs. Under the scheme - a major innovation of the Lisbon treaty - a million people can back a plan to introduce European legislation. The European Commission has recently fleshed out how it will work. British Liberal Andrew Duff said "the Commission have struck a fairly good balance between stimulating popular democracy and ensuring that the new system has integrity".

However, striking a note of caution he said that "any citizen planning to launch an initiative would be well advised to first get the Commission's informal opinion as to the viability and eligibility of the specific proposal".

Polish MEP Rafał Trzaskowski from the centre right European People's Party said "the proposal brings us closer to realisation of one of the most important innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon".

He went on to say that "I would warn though against raising expectations of the EU citizens too high in this regard. It will still be a complicated procedure, as it is in Member States".