Another public hearing for the European Citizens' Initiative will be held on May 12. The forum is titled "EGI – a Toothless Tiger Or an Open Door For The Citizens?". This time the host of the event is the European Parliament as a further step in the coherent and transparent process of prior consultation with the European Union citizens about what is the mechanism for exercising their right to appeal to European institutions with requests from their spheres of competence.
European citizens' initiative is an innovation introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, giving the right of nationals of Member States to offer the EU institutions to take specific decisions on specific issues. The European Parliament is about to determine the procedure of the European citizens' initiative. In January this year Balkan Assist Association coordinated the efforts of 25 Bulgarian NGOs for the preparation of a joint decision. The document was published on the European Commission website.