There is a little known tool that allows EU citizens to bring an issue directly to the attention of the European Commission and requires it to respond. It is known as the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) and, since 2012, it has been the first form of transnational direct democracy of its kind in the world.
To reach the Commission, one million signatures must be collected within twelve months, with a minimum number of signatures reached in at least seven EU Member States.
Nature Has No Borders, promoted by Fondazione Capellino, calls for a European framework to strengthen ecological connectivity between different territories and inland waters.
The signature collection will begin on 15th October 2026 and end on 14th October 2027.
It all begins with seven people living in seven different EU Member States. Together, they form a citizens’ committee and ask the European Commission to register their initiative.
There are a few conditions. The proposal must respect the values of the European Union and must ask for action in an area where the European Commission has the power to act.
If the initiative is registered, the challenging part begins: collecting one million signatures within twelve months and reaching a minimum threshold in at least seven EU Member States. The thresholds vary according to the number of seats each country has in the European Parliament.
Signatures can be submitted through the European Commission’s online system or on paper forms.
People who are eligible to vote in European Parliament elections can sign, subject to the relevant requirements in their Member State. The usual minimum age is 18, although it is 16 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Malta.
Once the collection period is over, the relevant national authorities verify the signatures and certify them.
The organisers are then invited to meet the European Commission and present their initiative. The European Parliament also hears from the organisers and may hold a debate in plenary and vote on a resolution.
Within six months, the European Commission must explain in writing, in all of the EU’s official languages, what action it intends to take and why.
Even a decision to take no action must be publicly explained.
Europe is one of the most heavily developed continents on the planet. Its dense network of roads, railways, industrial buildings, canals and other barriers has divided ecosystems into disconnected areas, making it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for many species to move between them.
The impact, however, affects far more than animals.
It affects everything that their movement makes possible.
A wolf crossing the Alps or a river flowing down to the lowlands knows no national borders. The regulations that are supposed to protect them, however, often do.
Insects move between plants and pollinate our orchards. Birds and mammals carry seeds that help regenerate forests. Those forests, in turn, help support the water we drink and the soil that produces our food.
These are essential services that nobody sends us a bill for. We often take them for granted until they begin to disappear.
At the same time, European environmental legislation is often dealt with in separate areas, with different rules covering habitats, water and other parts of the natural environment.
What Nature Has No Borders says is missing, is a more coordinated approach to ecological connectivity between land ecosystems and inland waters, cooperation across national borders and stronger links between protected areas within the Natura 2000 network.
This is the aim of Nature Has No Borders, the European Citizens’ Initiative promoted by Fondazione Capellino.
The signature collection will begin on 15 October 2026 and close on 14 October 2027.
The campaign is being promoted in nine EU countries: Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Malta.
However, the initiative is open to eligible citizens across all 27 EU Member States, not only those nine countries.
This distinction is particularly important for people reading about the campaign in the UK. The UK is no longer an EU Member State, so people living in the UK cannot take part and sign.
But there are still ways to help.
If you are an EU citizen who meets the requirements for signing, you may be able to take part. If you belong to an organisation based in an eligible EU Member State, you can also help raise awareness and share the campaign through your networks.
And if you have family, friends, colleagues or other contacts in the EU who are eligible to sign, you can help by telling them about the initiative and encouraging them to find out more.
In other words, living in the UK does not prevent you from helping the campaign reach people who are eligible to participate.
At the same time, Fondazione Capellino has launched a €4 million Call for Projects to fund projects restoring ecological connectivity, with projects also selected through a public vote.
These two initiatives are closely connected. The call for proposals aims to demonstrate in practical terms that restoring connections between natural areas is possible, while the ECI is asking the European Union to make this approach part of its wider environmental policy.
Recent history suggests that they can have an impact, although not every initiative achieves everything it originally set out to do.
There are several examples.
Right2Water contributed to the revision of the Drinking Water Directive, which introduced stronger standards and greater public access to drinking water.
End the Cage Age, with 1.4 million validated signatures across eighteen countries, led to a commitment from the European Commission to work towards ending the use of cages in livestock farming.
Ban Glyphosate did not achieve the ban it called for. However, it contributed to a decision to make the studies submitted to European authorities as part of food safety assessments publicly available.
The experience of previous initiatives shows that an ECI can put an issue firmly on the European political agenda, even when it does not result in every demand being adopted.
For someone who is eligible to sign, it takes only a couple of minutes.
You go to the European Commission’s portal, provide the information requested for your country, and submit your signature. The information is used to verify that each signature comes from a real person who is entitled to take part.
From 15th October, the Nature Has No Borders campaign will start with zero signatures and have twelve months to reach its target of one million.
For people in the EU who are eligible to sign, it is a direct way to make their voice heard on an issue that crosses national borders.
And for those of us in the UK, there is still a role to play.
You may not be eligible to sign simply because you live in Britain, but you may know someone who is.
You may have an EU citizen in your family. You may belong to an organisation with links to an EU Member State. You may have friends, colleagues or professional contacts across Europe.
If you know someone who can take part, share the initiative with them.
Nature does not stop at national borders. Neither, increasingly, do the environmental challenges facing Europe.
The European Citizens’ Initiative is open only to citizens who meet the eligibility requirements in the European Union’s 27 Member States. People in the UK aren't able to sign.
However, that doesn't mean people in Britain can't play a part. If you're an EU citizen who meets the requirements to sign, you can take part. And if you are part of an organisation based in an eligible EU Member State, or have family, friends or colleagues in the EU who are eligible to sign, you can help by sharing the initiative with them.