21 Amendments of Kostas CHRYSOGONOS related to 2014/2257(INI)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines the fact that the Citizens' Initiative is the firstshould be regarded as a tool of participatory democracy that confers the right for EU citizens, based on at least one million statements of support, to take the initiative and ask the Commission to submit, within the framework of its powers, an appropriate proposal on matters on which citizens consider that a legislative act is necessary to implement the treaties;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas participatory democracy is strongly connected to ECI, as it allows citizens to be an active part in projects and decisional processes which concern them;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas Article 288 TFEU defines as legal acts not only regulations and directives, but also decisions, recommendations and opinions and that the appropriate proposals contained in an ECI may well include each of these acts, among which a proposal for the revision of the Treaties under Article 48.2 of the Treaty on European Union, or a proposal concerning the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the principles recognized in article 2 TEU or the evidence of a serious and persistent infringement (Art. 7.1 and 7.2 TEU);
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas European Parliament is the only directly elected body of the European Union. As such it represents, by definition, European citizens;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas, during the European Year of Citizens, the associations and the civil society representatives expressed in many occasions what was necessary and urgent to be reformed in the Regulation 211/2011;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Notes also that the collection period for statements of support could be extended to 18 months;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to provide as much guidance as possible – especially of a legal nature – to organisers of ECIs via the Europe Direct Contact Centre, so that they are aware of the possibilities open to them and will not fail by proposing an ECI that is outside the Commission's powers, or else to assign the task of giving advice to another independent company or body so as to avoid a possible conflict of interest within the Commission itself; notes, however, that under t. Encourages the Commission to assess whether less restrictive judgements on the legal admissibility of an ECI might be possible, thus supporting the engagement of citizens. The legal assessment of the Commission should be advisory in nature. The Treaty of Lvisbion of the issues raised by ECIs may not correspond entirely to the Commission's jurisdiction; takes the view, furthermore, that the Commission should consider setting up a dedicated ECI office in each Member State;ECI should remove Art 4(2)(b) so that an ECI proposal only needs to be within the values of the Union and not abusive, frivolous or vexatious to be registered. Following the receipt of legal advice from the Commission and other sources that the organisers wish to use, the ECI organisers can decide whether to proceed with registration of their ECI.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that liability issues have arisen for the organisers of Citizens' Initiatives owing to the fact that citizens' committees lack legal personality and that this problem could only be solved by revising the regulation; points out however that, in order not to discourage citizens from undertaking an ECI, liability should only be understood as including acts committed intentionally or with serious negligence;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Highlights that the Commission should present at least a first draft of its proposal on a successful ECT within 12 months of its acceptance at the latest;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Suggests that, if the organisers of an ECI ask for a second, supplementary hearing, this request should be given due consideration unless there are important obstacles to its satisfaction;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the need to provide more detailed guidelines on the interpretation of legal bases and more information on data protection obligations in each Member State in which the organisers run their campaigns, and on the possibility for organisers to take out insurance at a rate not excluding citizens because of financial reasons;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Notes the important role of the European Ombudsman in investigating into the handling of ECI requests by the Commission, and especially cases of refusal to register an ECI;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that under the terms of Article 4 of Regulation 211/2011, in the event of a refusal by the Commission to register an ECI, ‘the Commission shall inform the organisers of the reasons for such refusal and of all possible judicial and extrajudicial remedies available to them'; acknowledges, in this connection, the many complaints from organisers about not receiving detailed and exhaustive reasons for the rejection of their ECIs, and invites the Commission to provide as many elements as possible in order to explain the reasons and guide organisers to a possible solution; such elements and reasons provided by the Commission must be sound, intelligible and transparent, in a manner to facilitate the promoters' work, if necessary, of redrafting and resubmitting their proposals.
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission also to register ECI proposals that require treaty amendment or ask the Commission to propose treaty amendment, because these ECI proposals would fall within the framework of the Commission's powers to propose treaty amendment in accordance with Art 48(2) TEU.
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to improve the user-friendly character of its software for the online collection of signatures and to offer its servers for the storage of online signatures for free on a permanent basis and to modify the OCS so email addresses can be collected on a non-mandatory basis on the same screen as the support form, but stored in a separate database;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Deems it too complicated for organisers to provide different personal data in support of ECIs in the 28 Member States, as laid down in Regulation 211/2011 on the basis of the various national provisions, and suggests that consideration be given to establishing an EU digital citizenship; calls on the Commission, therefore, to explore this issue in its digital agenda; also encourages the Commission to further negotiate with Member States in order to achieve more user-friendly requirements, with regard to numbers and variety of personal data; reminds that an ECI is about participation and agenda-setting instead of binding proposals and that the requirements should accordingly be moderate and well-balanced; calls on the Commission to ask all Member States to remove identification number requirements, accepting for a transitional period the exclusions of the two countries that absolutely need them to verify signatures.
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission to ask Member States to lower the age of ECI support to 16, as it is currently legally realized in Austria.
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Invites the Member States to be flexible in their verification when they receive statements of support for an ECI which are just above the threshold of 1 million signatures, with a view to allowing its submission; calls on the Member States to simplify and unify their respective procedures; urges the Commission to propose a revision of the Regulation 211/2011 aiming at to guarantee citizens to sign an ECI in their country of residence too.
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Takes the view that, in order to emphasise the political dimension of ECIs, a public hearing held under the terms of Article 11 of Regulation 211/2011 should be structured in such a way as to allow organisers to engage in a dialogue with Members of the European Parliament; stresses that hearings on ECIs should be organised by a neutral committee that does not have the main responsibility for their subject-matter; points out that while the organisers of the ECI should be given the space they deserve for the presentation of their case, it might be useful to also include outside stakeholders and experts at an early stage of the discussion. To this end, the Commission is invited to use additional tools of participation as foreseen in Article 11 of the Lisbon Treaty (e.g., online consultation) and extend the deadline for a Commission response from 3 to 5 months to accommodate this. Is of the opinion that one Vice President of the European Parliament should be in charge of organizing the hearings on ECIs.
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Under the terms of Article 225 TFEU, urges the Parliament and its committees, if necessary, to claim the right to request the Commission to submit a proposal that takes into account the content of any successful ECI.
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Encourages the Commission to run a media campaign to increase public and media awareness. Urges the need to amend the EU budget, in the framework of the mid-term review, so as to provide the Commission with the necessary financial resources to run an effective and large media campaign increasing public and media awareness of the ECI.