Popular petition

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A people's petition is an instrument for public participation . It enables citizens to take the initiative of introducing an item or a bill into parliament. Parliament then decides in its own sovereignty on the question of whether or not to accept or reject the proposal after deliberation in plenary . In order to make a popular petition a success, i.e. to bring it into parliament, the initiators of the petition must show a certain number of signatures from eligible voters . It is characteristic of the popular petition that it represents a non-binding suggestion by the population, but does not lead to a referendum in which the citizens themselves can decide whether to accept or reject the bill.

Terminology

Germany

The term people's petition is common in science, but is rarely used in general usage and is actually only used officially in Hamburg (see overview of the procedural rules below). Instruments corresponding to the popular petition procedure can be found under other names in the overwhelming number of regional authorities in the German-speaking area (i.e. in Germany, Austria).

Austria

In Austria, the referendum corresponds to the procedure of a people's petition at the federal level .

EU

The European citizens' initiative provided for in the Lisbon Treaty is also a popular petition. Since the EU does not have a fully valid parliament and the separation of powers has only been implemented to a limited extent, the citizens' initiative is aimed at the executive , i.e. the EU Commission . The precise procedural design of the citizens' initiative is currently still being negotiated.

Overview of the rules of procedure

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

In the German federal states of Baden-Württemberg , Bavaria , Brandenburg , Hesse , Saarland and Saxony , as well as in the Federal Republic of Germany at the national level, there is no procedure comparable to the people's petition.

Popular petitions and their design
Local authority official name regulated in Topic exclusion Quorum of signatures Collection period
Berlin Popular initiative Art. 61 of the state constitution;
Sections 1–9 of the Voting Act		 no topic exclusion 20,000 6 months retrospectively from submission
Bremen Citizen application Art. 87 of the state constitution;
Sections 1–7 of the Citizens' Application Act		 Budget,
remuneration and pensions,
taxes and personnel decisions		 2% no deadline
Hamburg Popular petition Articles 28 and 29 of the state constitution;
Sections 1–10 of the Act on Popular Petitions		 no topic exclusion 10,000 no deadline
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Popular initiative Art. 59 of the state constitution;
§§ 7-10 of the Referendum Act;
Sections 1–8 of the Implementing Ordinance for the VaG		 State budget,
taxes,
salaries		 15,000 no deadline
Lower Saxony Popular initiative Art. 47 of the state constitution;
3–11 of the Referendum Act;
62b – c of the state parliament's rules of procedure		 no topic exclusion 70,000 1 year
North Rhine-Westphalia Popular initiative Art. 67a of the state constitution;
§§ 1–5 of the VIVBVEG;
§ 1 of the implementing regulation for the VIVBVEG		 no topic exclusion 0.5% 1 year retrospectively from the submission
Rhineland-Palatinate Popular initiative Art. 107, 109a of the state constitution;
Section 60g – h of the State Election Act;
Sections 73–74 of the state election regulations		 Financial issues,
tax laws,
pay regulations		 30,000 1 year retrospectively from the submission
Saxony-Anhalt Popular initiative Art. 80 of the state constitution;
Sections 4–9 (PDF; 44 kB) of the Referendum Act		 no subject exclusion 30,000 no deadline
Thuringia Citizen application Art. 82 (PDF; 6.1 MB) of the state constitution;
Sections 7–8 of the Act on Procedure for Citizens' Applications, Referendums and Referendums		 no topic exclusion 50,000 6 months
Republic of Austria (Federation) Referendum Art. 41 (2) of the Federal Constitutional Law;
Sections 1–24 of the Volksbegehrensgesetz		 no topic exclusion 100,000 1 week
European Union European citizens' initiative For the exact structure of the instrument, see European Citizens' Initiative .

Remarks

  1. ↑ A citizen application can be submitted not only for the state of Bremen, but also for the city of Bremen, see resident application .
  2. ↑ a b c A successful but rejected popular initiative that contains a draft law can be part of a referendum. However, since this can alternatively be initiated with a lower hurdle via a petition for a referendum , the popular initiative retains the character of a popular petition .

Practice in Germany

By the end of 2012, 49 people's petitions had been initiated in the German federal states. Most of the proceedings took place in Lower Saxony (14) and North Rhine-Westphalia (11), followed by Saxony-Anhalt (8), Bremen (7), Hamburg (5) and Berlin (4).

See also

Web links