The Political Citizenship in the Context of the Lisbon Treaty

The notion of citizenship introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and modified by the Amsterdam Treaty, can be associated, among other things, with the political or democratic citizenship, based on a set of common political rights, with the main purpose of empowering the citizens to be "co-authors" of the law within the European decision-making process. In this context, an important step has been made by the adoption and entering into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, as the general framework containing the legislative power, and by the Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 on the citizens' initiative adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, which defines the rules and procedure governing this new instrument, that was officially launched on 1 April 2012. This new legal instrument, as one of the major innovations of the Lisbon Treaty will strengthen the democratic foundations of the European Union by regulating the possibility for the citizens to invite the European Commission, within the framework of its powers and in certain circumstances, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where they consider that a legal act of the European Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaty - art. 11 (4) of TFEU - or to be more actively involved in the political life of EU and therefore, to take part in the decision-making process at European level.