Activities of Lidia Joanna GERINGER DE OEDENBERG related to 2016/2146(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Activities of the Committee on Petitions 2015 (debate) PL
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2015 PDF (761 KB) DOC (199 KB)
Legal basis opinions (0)
Amendments (13)
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AI a (new)
Recital AI a (new)
AIa. whereas each petition is carefully assessed and dealt with and each petitioner must receive a reply within a reasonable period of time indicating the grounds for closing the petition in question;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AI b (new)
Recital AI b (new)
AIb. whereas all petitioners should have a possibility to directly present the cases to the Committee on Petitions;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Highlights the fact that the Committee on Petitions has an opportunity and the huge challenge of maintaining a dialogue with citizens as it has the possibility to bring the EU’s institutions and citizens together once again;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Welcomes the fact that in 2015 the time taken to process petitions fell, maintains nonetheless that the Secretariat of the Committee on Petitions is in need of greater technical resources and personnel in order to guarantee a diligent examination and reduction in the time taken to process petitions;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that, as mentioned by Vice- President Timmermans at his meeting with the Committee on Petitions on 5 May 2015, the Commission is involved with and committed to the petition process and responds as quickly as possible to new petitions forwarded to it by Parliament; points out that Commission replies are usually detailed and pertain to the petitions for which it has jurisdiction; recalls however that on many occasions the Commission does not bring any new information in its replies to petitions for which a review has been requested owing to a change in their status and context; notes that the written responses are monitored, as are explanations given during oral debates held by the Committee on Petitions; notes that when the Commission cannot provide a detailed response to a request from the Committee on Petitions, it is because it has no jurisdiction in the matter; notes the Commission’s commitment in sending generally competent officials to meetings of the Committee on Petitions; regrets that during public debates with petitioners and Members of Parliament the officials sent by the Commission do not provide any new or relevant information that might enable a solution to the issues raised;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Confirmsiders that, in the interests of transparency and in a spirit of faithful cooperation between the EU institutions, and pursuant to the Framework Agreement on relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission, upon request and where required the Commission willshould provide the European Parliament with a synthesis of the individual cases related to the EU Pilot procedures; nrecalls previous requests made by the Committee on Petitions to ensure access to EU Pilot and infringement procedure documents, as petitions frequently lead to the initiation of such procedures. Notes that, according to confirmation from the Court of Justice, confidentiality requirements apply to dialogue between the Commission and Member States concerning open EU Pilot cases, and also notes that such information is confidential;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Regrets that petitioners are still not sufficiently informed about the grounds for declaring the petition inadmissible;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Deplores the strict way in which the Commission has interpreted Article 51 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights with its stipulation that ‘the provisions of the [...] Charter are addressed to the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union with due regard for the principle of subsidiarity and to the Member States only when they are implementing Union law; rRecalls that, owing to the existence of Article 51 of the Charter, the expectations of citizens often go beyond what the Charter’s legal provisions strictly allow for; calls on the European Commission to adopt a new approach that is more consistent with those expectations;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Regrets that citizens of Poland and United Kingdom are still not protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Points to the important ongoing work carried out by the Committee on Petitions in the context of the application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; duly notes that 2015 was a very significant year in that for the first time a United Nations agency reviewed the fulfilment of human rights obligations in the EU; is pleased to note that a United Nations committee had the opportunity to hear all the details regarding the protection provided by the Committee on Petitions; underscores that the Commission has begun to incorporate the concluding observations by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into the petition treatment process1 ; is pleased to note that the public hearing ‘Protecting the rights of people with disabilities, from the perspective of petitions received’ organised by the Committee on Petitions on 15 October 2015, was highly accessible; draws attention to the importance of the findings of the study commissioned by Policy Department C entitled ‘The protection role of the Committee on Petitions in the context of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’; considers it important that the Committee on Petitions continues to organise events focusing on petitions in the field of disability; calls for the capacity of the Committee on Petitions and its Secretariat to be enhanced to enable it to properly fulfil its protection role; calls for the establishment of a designated officer responsible for the processing of disabilities-related issues; notes the Committee’s significant follow-up action in 2015 with regard to disability with respect to more specific topics such as the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty (petition No 0924/2011), the unblocking of the anti-discrimination Directive (petition No 0360/2009), exemption from customs duties for certain products designed to promote the cultural, educational or scientific advancement of persons with disabilities (petition No 0240/2015) or family caregivers (petition No 0098/2015); __________________ 1 Adopted by the UN Committee at its 14nth session (17 August to 4 September 2015); see: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatyb odyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=C RPD%2fC%2fEU%2fCO%2f1&Lang=en
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Believes that the organisation of public hearings is an important way of examining problems raised by petitioners; draws attention to the public hearings organised on 26 February 2015 with the AFCO Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in response to the ECI on ‘Water is a Human Right’, and with the Committee on Legal Affairs for the ECI entitled ‘One of Us’uropean Citizens' Initiative and the hearing about the Right to Petition on 23 June 2015;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. DeploRegrets the fact that the Commission considers that it is too early to revise Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 of 1 April 2012 which entered into force three years ago; considers that it is necessary to thoroughly evaluate its implementation to identify possible deficiencies and propose workable solutions with a view to revising it soon; welcomes the Commission’s report of 31 March 2015 on the ECI, and the European Ombudsman’s Decision OI/9/2013/TN, and calls on the Commission to ensure, in its revision of this instrument, that all the appropriate legal measures are taken with a view to providing proper follow-up when an ECI is deemed to have been completed successfully; calls on the Commission, in view of the various weaknesses identified, to present a proposal for reform of Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 as soon as possible;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Urges the competent administrative bodies to expedite the steps still needed to conclude the introduction of the remaining project phases whereby petitioners will be able to receive information on the status of their petition, be notified of changes in the processing procedure through automated e- mail messages and directly contact officials of the Committee on Petitions for clear, direct information on the evolution of the issue concerning them;