The most scary thing about the Internet for your government is not pedophiles, terrorists or viruses, whatever you may have read in the papers. It is the danger of your administration being silently obsoleted by the lightening pace at which the Internet changes expectations.

So why is the European Commission subject of my ire in this blog entry – in connection with Steinberg’s words about expectations?

I’m a little late to write something about it, but I’m on about the Commission’s proposal for the implementation of the European Citizens’ Initiative set out in the Treaty of Lisbon. The text of the Commission draft is here (PDF). I’ve tried to decipher the text together with a few EU nerds (we’re speaking about it on the second day of re:publica in Berlin) and frankly it’s hard to find words to describe how totally and utterly lousy the whole draft is. The contrast with MySociety’s 10 Downing Street petitions system could not be more stark.

I agree with the critiques raised by Eurosocialiste, Bit More Complicated and European Citizen – the system, as currently drafted, is totally unworkable and I cannot see how any organisation or individual could possibly manage to comply with all of the criteria and then get an initiative accepted. Let’s not forget – even if an initiative is declared valid the Commission only has to consider the thing, it’s not even obliged to act. So to set the bar so high right from the start, including requiring ID card or social security numbers from signatories, is utterly ludicrous. I also particular like Annex II of the draft that requires those submitting a petition to state what legal base their initiative has – how many European citizens even know what a legal base is?

The draft is stodgy, unimaginative, unhelpful, and allows the Commission to essentially wash its hands of responsibility for anything that might be produced by the initiative. It’s dire.

Euractiv asked a couple of MEPs for some bla-bla about the initiative (at the bottom here) – the EP will after all have to co-decide on the legislation (interesting to see who will be the rapporteur at least). Syed Kamall, Tory MEP and Vice Chair of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, said:

This initiative should give power to the people, not to lobbyists and interest groups

Yes, too right Syed, although you might argue that’s a bit of a cheap comment coming from the European Parliament, the EU institution most reliant on lobbyists of all kinds…

If you wanted to have a major impact on EU legislation what are you going to do? Jump through 101 hoops to get a citizens’ initiative off the ground, or pay a PA company to lobby in the corridors of power? The latter will for sure remain easier.

So, in short, the internet gives citizens the power to network like never before, raises expectations as never before, and petitions with more than 1 million signatures have already been organised (see the excellent Oneseat.eu for example). Yet with scant grasp of everyday realities, and absolutely no intention to do anything profound for the cause of European democracy, the Commission’s draft for the European Citizens’ Initiative seems to make the thing obsolete before it has even started.

Chaussée de Charleroi - light stuck on yellow - Jon Worth, CC

Traffic light stuck on amber.

For 6 20 days solid*.

And no-one has done a thing.

A STIB tram passes this light every 10 minutes – it’s at the southern end of Chaussée de Charleroi. At least one police vehicle will have passed it each day. At least one person from the commune of St Gilles will have passed it each day. At least one person who works for the Bruxelles-Capitale region will have passed it each day. You see what I am getting at… je m’en fous, writ large.

I’ve now personally informed Bruxelles Mobilité about the issue – let’s see what happens.

In the UK there is a wonderful little site called Fix My Street to deal with things like this. You mark a cross on the map, and report potholes, broken traffic lights etc., and the system mails the relevant local authority… and about half of the issues get solved.

I suspect that things go a little deeper in Belgium – it’s more a need to Fix My State than it is the need to Fix My Street. For the hell of it I’ve bought fixmystate.be and fixmystate.eu, just in case I have the energy for a bit of MySociety inspired social entrepreneurship in the Belgian capital.

(P.S. Just for a bit of added spice there was a van, illegally parked, with no hazard flashers on, parked beside the traffic light when I took the picture…)

* – first time I saw it was Monday 15th March, I’m writing this Saturday 20th March, and I’ve passed it on my bicycle at least once every day in between. It may be longer of course…

[UPDATE - 4.4.2010]
I’ve been away from Brussels for almost 2 weeks… and the traffic light is STILL on amber! Today is 4th April, so that means the light has been on amber for at least 20 days now. And I still don’t have any response to my e-mail from Bruxelles Mobilité.

[UPDATE 20.4.10]
The traffic light has now been turned off completely…