A civic initiative could be proposed by a voluntary group of at least 30 people who can ask Parliament to debate a problem of major interest. The civic initiative can be submitted in written form, by mail or fax or in electronic form. The initiative that during 60 days of the registration will gather 10,000 signatures will be examined publicly by the expert parliamentary commission. This is stipulated in a legislative proposal to amend the Parliament’s Regulations that was given a first reading by the MPs, IPN reports.

PAS MP Radu Marian, who drafted the bill, said that after the initiative is subject to public debates by the expert parliamentary commission, it will be submitted to the Standing Bureau for being included in the agenda of a plenary sitting.

According to the MP, to support the civic initiative, the citizens could put the holographic signature on the document accompanying the initiative or on the legislature’s website. The signature will be considered valid if it is accompanied by the name, surname, personal account and domicile of the signatory.

“During the last few years, together with the extension of the population’s access to the Internet, the mass petition initiatives, by which hundreds or thousands of people mobilize and support a common cause, became more popular. The problem of these online activism initiatives is that there is no end result or action on the part of decision makers that would lead to the solving of the problem signaled by these petitions,” stated the author.

A number of improvements will be made to the proposal before the second reading, including related to the mechanism for receiving petitions and the protection of personal data.