The Long Road to Rejection: The Minority SafePack Initiative before the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the EU

Abstract

Launched in 2012 and legally concluded in 2025, the Minority SafePack Initiative (MSPI) constitutes a significant exercise of participatory democracy in the European Union. It mobilised more than one million supporters across the EU and successfully placed the protection of national and linguistic minorities on the EU agenda. Despite this broad mobilisation, the European Commission rejected the initiative in 2021, declining to propose legislative action. This article examines two key stages of the MSPI’s trajectory: the Commission’s substantive decision to reject the initiative and the subsequent legal challenge brought by its organisers. Concluding in 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the Commission’s position, illustrating both the possibilities and structural limits of the ECI mechanism.