What is a citizens' petition?
With a citizens' petition, citizens of a municipality apply to decide on a matter in the form of a referendum instead of the council. The prerequisite for this is that the council is actually responsible for the decision on the matter in question.
However, some municipal policy decisions are generally reserved for the council, e.g. budget statutes, municipal levies, planning approval procedures and the annulment of urban land-use planning procedures. A citizens' initiative is therefore not possible for these matters.
Who can carry out a citizens' initiative?
All persons who are eligible to vote in municipal elections in Aachen can submit a petition for a referendum in Aachen. Eligible to vote in municipal elections are Germans and citizens of the other 26 EU Member States who have reached the age of 16 on election day, have been resident in Aachen since at least the 16th day before the election or are otherwise ordinarily resident in Aachen and are not excluded from the right to vote.
What needs to be considered if a citizens' initiative is to be carried out?
As a first step, the city administration must be informed in writing of the intention to hold a citizens' initiative. This notification must contain the names of up to three authorized representatives and a question on the matter to be decided. The question must be able to be answered with "yes" or "no", be clearly defined and be substantiated.
The administration provides the authorized representatives with an estimate of the costs associated with the implementation of the requested measure. Upon receipt of the administration's cost estimate, the authorized representatives can draw up signature lists. Each signature list must contain the issue to be decided, the associated justification, the authorized representatives and the administration's cost estimate.
In Aachen, around 7,700 valid signatures of clearly identifiable persons must be submitted in order for the citizens' petition to be submitted. All those who have signed must be eligible to vote, i.e. be registered to participate in the local elections in Aachen.
Is there a blocking effect for measures to which the citizens' petition relates?
A blocking effect takes effect from the time at which the admissibility of the citizens' petition has been finally determined by the council. § Section 26 GO NRW of the North Rhine-Westphalia Municipal Code (GO NRW) State law of North Rhine-Westphalia formulates the blocking effect in paragraph 6 as follows: "Once the admissibility of the citizens' petition has been finally determined, no decision contrary to the petition may be taken by the municipal bodies or the implementation of such a decision may commence until the result of the referendum has been determined, unless the municipality was legally obliged to do so at that time (blocking effect of the admissible citizens' petition)."
What is an application for a preliminary review?
The authorized representatives of the citizens' petition can apply for an early review of the admissibility of the desired citizens' petition. This early determination of admissibility is made by the Council.
An application for a preliminary examination must be based on the same requirements in terms of form and content as the citizens' petition itself. The only difference is that the signatures have not yet been collected at this stage. Only 25 citizens - in addition to the authorized representatives - must have signed the petition for the Council to examine and, if necessary, determine the admissibility of the petition within eight weeks.
What happens if the council rejects the citizens' petition?
After examining the signatures submitted, the city council discusses the content of the petition at its next meeting. If the council rejects the petition by a majority, a referendum is held within three months.
The referendum is usually conducted like an election. All citizens of the city who are registered to vote in local elections can take part in the vote. When voting, they can only answer the question of the citizens' petition with "Yes" or "No". The question is decided in the sense that it has been answered by the majority of valid votes, provided that this majority is at least 10 percent of citizens. If this minimum vote is not achieved, the referendum is invalid.
Where can I get information about the content of the petition / referendum?
If a referendum is held, the city must generally provide comprehensive information to all those entitled to vote. The City of Aachen has made the provision that all those entitled to vote receive a so-called "voting booklet" with the notification of the day of the vote.
In addition to information about the voting procedure, the booklet also contains the views of the parliamentary groups represented in the council on the petition, the views or special votes of individual council members, the administration's position on the petition and the basic justification of the representatives of the petition. As soon as the voting booklet for a referendum is available, it will also be published on the City of Aachen's website.