Activities of Angel DZHAMBAZKI related to 2019/2132(INI)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (8)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls that ensuring the effective and uniform application of EU law is crucial for upholding the rule of law, which is one of the founding values of the Union and its Member States, as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union; is, therefore, worried about the increasingnotes a high number of petitions expressing citizens’ concerns over violations of the rule of law in the Member States, including regarding disputed reforms of national judiciarie and welcomes the participation of the citizens in exercising their rights; stresses that non-compliance with the rule of law, including by sub-national entities, has a direct impact on citizens’ lives, as demonstrated in petitions received and by the outcome of Special Eurobarometer 489; while respecting the subsidiarity principle, calls on the Commission to respect the commitments made in its 2019 communication entitled ‘Strengthening the rule of law within the Union: A blueprint for action’ (COM(2019)0343), in order to promote a culture of respect for the rule of law, reinforce cooperation with national authorities and ensure an effective common response to actual threats within the Union;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that the committee on petitions receives a significant number of petitions each year from concerned citizens expressing dissatisfaction with the state of implementation of EU law in the Member States, and that the large majority of these petitions are transmitted to the Commission for in-depth investigation; welcomes the Commission involvement in the procedure and finds it important that the members of the European Parliament can question the outcomes and the recommendations and underlines that the spheres of EU competence should be respected;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls that the Committee on Petitions receives significant number of petitions from citizens disadvantaged as a result of decisions taken by national judiciaries; underlines that the right to a fair trial is a fundamental right and must be respected by judicial authorities in all Member States;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the Commission’s commitment, as clearly set out in its 2017 annual report on monitoring the application of EU law (COM(2018)0540), to placing great value on the contributions of citizens, businesses and other stakeholders in detecting breaches of EU law; notes, in this regard, the Commission’s efforts to illustrate the impact of petitions on its enforcement action in a number of policy areas such as the environment, migration, taxation and the internal market; deplores, however, the lack of figures on the number of petitions handled by the Commission and the number that lead to the initiation of EU Pilots and infringement procedures;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes, in this regard, the increased transparency and the disclosure of more information in the 2018 report about the number of petitions dealt with by the Commission and about its follow-up actions; notes, however, that in the large majority of cases the Commission did not open an investigation and did not take any further action; is particularly concerned, in this respect, about the practice of referring a significant number of petitioners to other bodies attherefore acknowledges the fact that many of the petitions concern local or regional authorities and are rightly forwarded to national, regional or local level; acknowledges that this practice reflects the Commission’s new enforcement policy announced in its 2016 communication entitled ‘EU Law: Better Results through Better Application’ (C(2016)8600), which aims to direct citizens to the national level when complaints or petitions do not raise issues of wider principle or systematic failure to comply with EU law and can satisfactorily be dealt with by other mechanisms;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 43 #
8. Notes that the number of new complaints registered by the Commission in 2018 and 2017 reached its highest level since 2011, with a record 3 850 new complaints in 2018; welcomes citizens’ increasing empowerment as regards the process of monitoring and enforcing EU law, as evidenced by the significant flow of complaints and petitions; points out, however, that, as is the case for petitions,notes also that the number of complaints leading to investigations remained very low in 2018 and in 2017 as a proportion of the total number of complaints received; askssuggests that the Commission toshould clarify how it intends to addresits actions as well as the lack of actions, thus the gap in citizens’ expectations regarding the possibility of obtaining a remedy at EU level;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recalls, in this regard, that both the European Court of Auditors’ 2018 Landscape Review entitled ‘Putting EU law into practice: The European Commission’s oversight responsibilities under Article 17(1) of the Treaty on European Union’ and the 2017 decision of the European Ombudsman setting out suggestions following her strategic inquiry OI/5/2016/AB on timeliness and transparency in the European Commission’s handling of infringement complaints invite the Commission to ensure that pre-infringement cases are dealt with in a more timely and transparent way.