Pro-life campaigners have expressed their disappointment after a pro-life petition demanding that Brussels no longer finances the destruction of human embryos was rejected. The "Un De Nous/One Of Us" campaign submitted their petition, signed by two million people, in order initiate legislation which would protect the human embryo through the European Citizens' Initiative.(ECI) The ECI is a participative democracy mechanism created by the Treaty of Lisbon through which a million citizens can take the initiative of introducing a legislative proposal in the European institutions. Although the petition was supported by two million people the commission vetoed the initative which campaigners described as "illegitimate and anti-democratic." A statement released yesterday by the One Of Us Campaign read: "The ONE OF US Committee expresses its deep disappointment towards a deaf Commission which today makes a decision contrary to ethical and democratic requirements. While each initiative draft is controlled upstream by the Commission before being open to signature, the Barroso Commission claims to possess the right of veto downstream, against initiatives having yet successfully obtained the required popular support. "Such veto power is illegitimate and anti-democratic since politically, it is the European Legislature that may give a verdict on the content of the Initiative, and not the Commission, otherwise, the ECI mechanism would be meaningless." The One of Us campaign has vowed to fight on They said: "For the One Of Us Citizens’ Committee, the procedure is not over: on one hand, the Commission’s decision is likely to be appealed before the Court of Justice in Luxembourg – which acknowledges respect for human life from conception - and on the other hand, the new Parliament will audition the next Commission, allowing it to replace the respect of the Citizens’ Initiative in the heart of debates, and asks European Institutions to be more ethical and democratic."