V. Part III - Citizens’ Bill

The Venice Commission recommends reconsidering Article 22, for the following reasons: (a) while "sanctioning" the inaction of the Council with a referendum is per se not problematic, deferring the vote to the people when the Council makes amendments to the bill distorts the nature of the instrument, and is furthermore redundant with the popular initiative;[1] (b) the "transformation" of a citizen's bill into a popular initiative is also problematic per se because it allows the initiators to turn around the formal requirements (number of signatures) as well as the substantive requirements for the popular initiative.  At the very least, Article 22 should be clarified and made more coherent.

[1] Cf. CDL-AD(2008)035, par. 81