The European Citizens' Initiative provides a unique opportunity to enable citizens to participate directly in shaping the development of EU legislation (3).Decision No 1904/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) set out an action programme which has confirmed the need to promote sustained dialogue with civil society organisations and municipalities and to support the active involvement of citizens.The interim evaluation report of the Europe for Citizens programme (2007-2013), together with a public online consultation and two consecutive stakeholder consultation meetings, have confirmed that a new ‘Europe for Citizens’ ...[+++] programme is considered relevant both by civil society organisations and by participating individuals.

Creating a transparent link between the national parties for which citizens of the Union cast their votes and the European political parties to which the national parties are affiliated should allow European political parties to express more directly the will of citizens of the Union and should have a powerful impact on the transparency of decision-making in the Union.

This is vital as rural areas are home to the largest group of Georgian citizens living below the poverty line;

feels that European political parties are key elements in raising awareness of European policies and in expressing the political will of the EU citizens, and have to act as a bridge between national and EU political life; they represent citizens' views and enable public debate on European issues, while supporting interaction between all levels of the European Union's system of multilevel governance; encourages therefore the European political parties to intensify their activity and develop new means to create political awareness, fo ...[+++]r example by presenting leading candidates for top European office in European elections or by running trans-national lists in elections to the European Parliament;

That is why we are campaigning for referendums on it in every European country, for although most of the people can now vote on the Constitutional Treaty, not all Europeans can. If the people of Europe are to know, firstly, that this Constitution exists, and secondly, having given it some thought, that they want it, it is vital that they themselves should be asked.

On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that a large proportion of the EU citizens (all those, who do not travel abroad or make cross-border payments) are not affected by Regulation 2560.