The Information Required for Registering the Proposed Citizens' Initiative

1. The title of the proposed citizens' initiative:
   Cohesion policy for the equality of the regions and sustainability of the regional cultures.
2. The subject matter:
   The cohesion policy of the EU should pay special attention to regions with national, ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic characteristics that are different from those of the surrounding regions.
3. The description of the objectives of the proposed citizens' initiative on which the Commission is invited to act:
   For these regions, including geographic areas with no administrative competencies, the prevention of economical backlog, the sustainment of development and the preservation of the conditions for economic, social and territorial cohesion should be done in a way that ensures their characteristics remain unchanged. For this, these regions must have equal opportunity to access various EU-funds and the preservation of their characteristics and their proper economical development must be guaranteed, so that the EU's development can be sustained and its cultural diversity maintained.
4. The provisions of the Treaties considered relevant by the organisers for the proposed action:
   Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty on European Union.
   Articles 153, 167, 170, 174, 176, 177 and 178 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Yesterday, on 20 December 2021, the verification of the signatures of the European Citizens' Initiative for the Equality of the Regions and the Sustainability of Regional Cultures was completed. The organizers have been informed by the Hungarian Elections Committee that the Decision, according to which 826,826 of the 901,758 signatures are valid, with the certification included within, has come into force. Two days prior, reports on the number of valid signatures were received from Portugal and Cyprus as well, and with this, the table of signatures from all 27 EU Member States, which is part of this notice, is complete.

At EU level, the total number of valid signatures is 1 266 682, but we should not neglect the fact that that we have collected a total of 1 418 659 signatures. The proportion of invalid signatures relative to the number of signatures collected is 10.73 percent on average.

When we registered the citizens' initiative, we spoke of a new theater of battle opening up should it become successful. This has now come to pass. The people of the National Regions have now been given new means to boost the economy of their homeland while preserving its regional identity. But the European Union's cohesion policy too can be updated in order to achieve the objective set out in the Treaties, without gaps in the legislation or prejudice to the EU's fundamental values: “In order to promote its overall harmonious development, the EU shall adjust and pursue its activities in a way that lead to the strengthening of its economic, social and territorial cohesion.”

The Press Service of the Szekler National Council
Sepsiszentgyörgy, December 21, 2021