Facebook Group to be accepted as a digital way to participate to Citizen Initiative
Facebook as the next big thing in Brussels?
The new Citizen Initiative introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, has already been the object of intense debates. But the latest proposal from the office of Commissioner Sefcovic for Administration, joined by Commissioner Kroes in charge of the Digital Agenda is one of the most unexpected developments : the Commissioners hope to introduce a possibility for someone to sign his support to an initiative by joining a dedicated Facebook Group.
«People, especially young people, are used to show their support for a cause by joining a group on Facebook» explains a Commission spokesperson, «and we want everybody to be able to easily take part in the process of a Citizen Initiative. It’s about putting the citizens back in control. And it’s a great way to appeal to young Europeans, to show them that the EU can be modern, or dare I say it, even cool».
It is not clear yet how the Commission plan to control who joins the groups. “This is especially important” added the spokesperson as “particularly, for obvious reasons, only European citizens can vote for a proposition”. Moreover, the Commission wants only real people to express their support, as rumour has it strange animals such as rhinoceros also rampage the pages of the global social networks. The interest of a Facebook page, according to the Commission, is that the platform not only provides a way to show one’s support to a proposition, but also a space of debate. But the Commission warns that they will not accept any petition that would have a title such as “Bet you I can find one million people who think Jose Manuel is the name of a jerk and should be prohibited by EU law”. As the slightly flustered official told BJ reporters: “we do have a sense of humour, really we do. But this is serious stuff, you know, legal stuff”.
Other social networks company have reportedly tried to opt-in to get their own website to be used has a platform too : Twitter did propose a plan based on the use of hashtag combined with geolocation ; and Google proposed a dedicated widget for its platform Google Wave. However a Commission official in charge of the issue comments: «This Wave thing, it’s just… like, complicated you know» and added that EU must be logical and cannot ask Google to reduce its storing of user information while in the same time using its product as a voting platform. As regards Twitter, the Commission unofficially told us they felt very uncomfortable associating the Lisbon Treaty to “fail whales” and “blue birds”. Rumors say that the commission is also working to develop an iPhone App that would allow citizen to vote over the Internet.
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