has a first-plan role to play. These social, civic and intercultural competencies will strengthen, reaffirm and promote the democratic values of the EU.

According to the European Commission (2017d), the functioning of the Union is based on representative democracy, which implies transparency and a political culture based on accessibility and accountability, supported by an effective electoral system and an informed and participative electorate. From this idea, the importance of the mechanism of the European Citizens Initiative, as it is presented, is arised. This achievement plays an important role in bringing citizens closer to the legislative process, as European Parliament (2017a).

2. In the Portuguese national system

One of the facets of democracy is to enable citizens to become involved in decision-making through participation in the exercise of legislative initiative. Not being the only form of participatory democracy (Maior, 1998), it is today an instrument in relief. It happens at national level, as several countries recognize it, such as Portugal, Brazil or Spain, and it happens at the European Union level.

In Brazil, for four times popular law bills have been approved as law in cases of violence that have mobilized public opinion, such as the first use that resulted in Law 8.930 of 07/09/1994. Also, in Spain, the Ley Orgánica 3/1984, of 26 march, regulator of the popular legislative initiative (consolidated), with the last amendments introduced in 2015, guarantees to citizens the power of legislative initiative, right provided in article 87.3 of the Spanish Constitution 1978.

This is not the only political right of immersion in democracy (European Commission, 2017a), but it is a very promising aspect that has been sought clear and easy to achieve. The results are scarce, perhaps attentive to the youth of the instrument, but it is an important path even if only by the added contributions. The aim is to empower citizens to influence the political agenda. The European Committee of the Regions (2018a) recalls, moreover, that the diversity of subnational structures in the Member States is an essential element of the EU’s political and cultural heritage and a key point of reference for developing active citizenship based on EU citizenship rights.

In these legal terms, the ordinary and parliamentary legislative process in the Portuguese Republic allows a group of citizens electors to present a bill of approval in the Republic Assembly. It is necessary to 20 thousand signatures of voters in a text of the idea of law that they want to see discussed, sent to Parliament and, after the proceedings of the legislative process, eventually be approved. The signatures can be collected through a computer platform provided by the Republic Assembly itself, a resource that represents a great value in the chances of success of the instrument in the days that run and in order to gather the interest of the younger layers of the population.

As a concrete example, in 2018 the collection of signatures for proposal on the full consideration of the time of teaching service takes place2.

On this path, the European Union also came later to recognize the instrument and introduce it.