Policy Lab’s director and co-founder Ajda Pistotnik attended the 602nd Plenary Session of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 21–22 January 2026.

One of the three plenary debates was dedicated to the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “My Voice, My Choice: For Safe and Accessible Abortion“. Following the debate, the EESC adopted an opinion in support of the initiative with an overwhelming majority—195 votes in favour and 12 against—sending a strong political signal of institutional backing for women’s bodily autonomy and equal access to reproductive healthcare across the European Union

Distinguished Speakers Framing the Debate

The session brought together institutional, civil society, and political perspectives, with contributions from:
– Irena Moozová, Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST),
– Mary Collins, Secretary-General of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL),
– Abir Al-Sahlani, Member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality,
– Nika Kovač, representative of the European Citizens’ Initiative My Voice, My Choice.

While the initiative itself focuses on access to safe and accessible abortion, the discussion went well beyond reproductive rights alone. It opened a broader reflection on what direct, bottom-up participatory democracy in the EU actually means in practice.

One million signatures as a political act

The European Citizens’ Initiative remains the only formal instrument through which EU citizens can collectively place an issue on the European political agenda. Mobilising more than one million people across borders, languages and political contexts is therefore not merely a technical or organisational achievement; it is a political act. It reflects persistence, courage and the power of collective mobilisation, and constitutes a clear expression of political will.

This is especially significant given that, in more than thirteen years of the ECI’s existence, only a small number of registered initiatives have succeeded in reaching the required threshold of one million verified signatures – out of 119 registered initiatives, only 14 have managed to collect enough.

What happens after the signatures are collected?

The debate also took place against a wider backdrop of unresolved questions concerning the political follow-up to successful European Citizens’ Initiatives. To date, no ECI that has met the formal requirements has directly resulted in a legislative proposal that fully delivers on its core demand. This persistent pattern points to a gap between citizen participation and substantive political outcomes.

In this context, the support expressed by both the European Parliament and the EESC for My Voice, My Choice is highly relevant. Together with more than one million signatures collected across the EU, it represents a clear and legitimate signal of European citizens’ political will – one that the European Commission cannot afford to treat as a purely procedural matter.

Beyond procedure: a test for European democracy

For Policy Lab, this discussion underlined a central democratic challenge for the European Union. Participatory instruments cannot function as procedural endpoints; they require meaningful political engagement and accountability. When citizens mobilise at scale, democratic legitimacy depends not only on formal recognition, but on the willingness of institutions to respond politically and substantively.

Meaningful participatory democracy requires political responsibility, accountability and action. My Voice, My Choice is therefore not only a campaign for reproductive rights; it is also a test of European democracy itself. It offers an opportunity to demonstrate that democracy in Europe is more than an administrative response – and that when citizens speak with one million voices, institutions do more than listen: they act.

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