Geoghegan-Quinn meets with European Citizens’ Initiative ‘One of Us’

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has met with representatives of the organising committee of the second European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), ‘One of Us’.

The meeting was also attended by the Director General for Research and Innovation, Robert-Jan Smits, and by the Deputy Director General for Development and Co-operation, Marcus Cornaro, on behalf of European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs.

In line with the ECI legislation, the Commission meeting with the organisers provided them with an opportunity to explain their ideas and demands in more depth. The organisers will then present their initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament, which will also be attended by Geoghegan-Quinn and Piebalgs.

Following the meeting, Geoghegan-Quinn and Piebalgs issued a joint statement. They said: “This is the second European Citizens’ Initiative that has collected the required number of signatures to earn the right to put their ideas forward. We at the European Commission intend to give this ECI all due attention, and the meeting today was very useful in this regard. The Commission is very much in listening mode, and that will continue tomorrow in the public hearing in the European Parliament. The Commission will then by 28 May present its Communication in response to the ECI.”