[pp.int.general] European citizens' Initiative - ID requirement & data retention

[Jerry Weyer]

Dear Pirates,

I'd like to make you aware of an important topic: the European citizens'
initiative (ECI). On April 1st 2011 the first ECIs can be deposited with
the EU Commission. If at least 1 Million citizens of more than 6 EU
countries sign an initiative the Commission has to take it into
consideration. While the initiative itself is not binding on the Commission
is sends a strong sign that EU citizens want a change in policy that cannon
be ignored by the Commission. At the very least the ECI will increase
political discussions cross-border EU wide, which is always a good thing.
More info on the ICE here:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/citizens_initiative/

Why I write to you is because some countries plan to force ECI supporters
to provide an ID number when signing an initiative. The danger of requiring
an ID card number when signing a petition is that a lot of potential
supporters are scared off. Even more important is that it might limit the
people who can collect signatures as the collection and storage of ID card
numbers might be regulated by national data protection laws. Therefore I
urge every Pirate Party and interested person to lobby their governments to
delete the requirements of an ID number if that is still possible.

Then I wanted to ask if any Pirate Party in the EU already planned an ECI
or supported a group that does. Imo an ECI to stop the data retention
directive has real chances to succeed and Pirates could play an important
role in collecting signatures. If you plan anything in this direction
please let me know as I'm currently contacting NGOs on this topic to work
on an ECI.

Kind regards,

Jerry
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