EU parliament backs rules on citizens' proposals

A draft law allowing European Union citizens to propose changes to the bloc's rules passed its last political hurdle Wednesday as the European Parliament granted approval. The EU's Lisbon Treaty, which came into force on December 1, 2009, allows for "citizens' initiatives" to propose changes to EU laws. It says that such petitions would have to be signed by at least 1 million people in a "significant number" of states, but leaves all the details vague.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Wednesday approved a law setting all the details out, in a plenary vote a day after EU member states gave the same proposal their backing. Under the new rules, initiatives would have to come from at least a quarter of the EU's 27 states to be valid. Earlier proposals had set the benchmark at one-third of EU states.