On 24 July the European Commission decided to register two European citizens' initiatives.

The ‘Stop Cruelty Stop Slaughter’ initiative calls for incentives for producing plant proteins, including plant-based milk and egg substitutes, as well as cultivated meat. The organisers also call for reducing the number of farm animals and progressively closing all animal farms.

The ‘Stop Fake Food: Origin on Label’ initiative calls for measures that ensure European consumers’ access to transparent information about the food they buy, as well as clear and explicit labelling of the origin for all products and for adherence to environmental, health and labour standards in the internal market.

These initiatives are the eighth and ninth registered in 2024. The organisers have now six months to open the signature collection. 

With the start of the 2024-2029 European parliamentary term on 16 July 2024, the revised Annex I to the ECI Regulation became applicable. It sets out new minimum numbers of signatories per Member State (‘thresholds’). These thresholds are linked to the number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). As the number of MEPs increased from 705 to 720 in the new term, the thresholds increased as well. For an ECI to be examined by the European Commission, it must collect at least one million valid signatures and obtain these minimum numbers of valid signatures in at least seven EU countries. 

These new minimum numbers apply to ECIs registered by the Commission on or after 16 July 2024. The new minimum numbers do not apply to ECIs registered before 16 July 2024 for which the previous thresholds continue to apply.

On 19 June the European Commission decided to register two European citizens' initiatives.

The ‘Air-Quotas’ initiative calls for a citizens’ carbon quota mechanism in each country that would encourage businesses to decarbonise through consumer demand. The organisers consider that it should cover all purchases of goods and services, starting with air transport. 

The ‘Stop Destroying Videogames’ initiative calls for a requirement for publishers of videogames in the EU to leave such games in a functional (playable) state, so to prevent their remote disabling.

These initiatives are the sixth and seventh registered in 2024. The organisers have now six months to open the signature collection.