BETA


2014/2008(INI) Annual report of the 2013 activities of the Committee on Petitions

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead PETI WAŁĘSA Jarosław (icon: PPE PPE) GERINGER DE OEDENBERG Lidia Joanna (icon: S&D S&D), WERTHMANN Angelika (icon: ALDE ALDE), IRAZABALBEITIA FERNÁNDEZ Iñaki (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), SALAVRAKOS Nikolaos (icon: EFD EFD)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 227-p7, RoP 54

Events

2014/08/11
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2014/03/11
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2014/03/11
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 482 votes to 120, with 60 abstentions, a resolution on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2013.

The resolution noted that 2885 petitions were received in 2013, which was ‘the Year of the European Citizen’, representing an increase of almost 45% on the year 2012 and that for the current legislature until now, almost 10 000 petitions have been registered.

Improving the petitions procedure : Parliament acknowledged the substantial and fundamental role of the Petitions Committee in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents. The petition procedure should be made more efficient, transparent, and impartial , while preserving the participatory rights of the Members of the Committee on Petitions, so that the handling of petitions will stand up to judicial review even at a procedural level.

Members noted the variety of thematic key areas concerned in the citizens’ petitions, such as fundamental rights, internal market, environmental law, public health issues, child welfare, transport and constructions, Spanish Coastal Law, new Regulation on good administration, persons with disabilities, age discrimination, public access to documents, European Schools, Fiscal Union, and the Steel Industry, animal rights and many more.

Petitions which fall under said thematic areas lend proof to the issue that the frequencies of widespread situations of unsatisfactory transposition of EU legislation or misapplication of the law are still occurring. This is why Parliament considers it important to enhance cooperation with Member States’ parliaments and governments, based on reciprocity , and, where necessary, to encourage Member States’ authorities to transpose and apply EU legislation with full transparency.

Parliament also emphasised:

the importance of citizens direct involvement in the Parliament’s activity and to have their concerns, proposals or complaints specifically addressed by the Committee members; points out the amount of work that had been done to resolve possible infringements of citizens’ rights and by cooperating with national, regional and local authorities on issues related to the application of European laws; while maintaining a vital role in reconnecting with European citizens and reinforcing the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the EU decision-making process; the Commission’s significant role in assisting with the handling of the cases raised by petitions. The Commission’s investigation of petitions should go into greater depth and look into the substance of cases with regard to EU legislation; the need to find better solutions for dealing with the submissions from citizens while taking into account Parliament’s obligations with regard to its correspondence with citizens on issues that fall outside the EU’s area of competence ; the need for a more active collaboration between the petitions committee and the SOLVIT network , which regularly uncovers and resolves problems linked to the implementation of internal market legislation.

Deploring that European citizens continue to experience frequent problems caused by the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities while exercising their freedom of movement, Parliament called on the Commission to propose legislation to resolve the issues surrounding mutual recognition by Member States of civil status documents , while respecting the competences of the Member States.

New horizons and relations with other institutions : the resolution underlined the importance of making this Committee work more substantial inside the House by raising its profile as a scrutiny Committee . It invited the newly elected Petitions Committee to nominate internal Annual Rapporteurs on the major policies, which are of concern of European petitioners, and to enhance cooperation with other parliamentary committees.

Parliament highlighted the need to reinforce the Petitions Committee collaboration with the other EU Institutions and bodies, and the national authorities in the Member States. Structured dialogue and systematic cooperation with Member States especially with the National Parliaments’ Petitions Committees should be enhanced. For their part, Member States are urged to play a proactive role in responding to petitions related to the implementation and enforcement of European law.

Working methods : Parliament is invited to adopt final internal rules to ensure maximum efficiency and openness in the work of the Committee.

The Petitions Committee is called upon to adopt clear deadlines in the process of petitions in order to speed up the petitions life-cycle in the European Parliament and make the whole process even more transparent and democratic. This could put in place a defined lifecycle of the petition from registration until their final closure in the European Parliament.

These deadlines should establish an alert mechanism which automatically draws Members’ attention to petitions on which there has not been any action or correspondence for a considerable amount of time, in order to avoid old petitions staying open over years without substantial reason.

Parliament called for an urgent revision of the relevant rules , in order to enable the newly elected Members to carry out efficient visits and report swiftly back to the petitioners and the Committee on their findings and recommendations.

Lastly, concerned that delays and response times are still too long throughout the registration phase and the admissibility phase in the process, Parliament called for providing the Unit for Reception and Referral of Official Documents and the Petitions Committee Secretariat, respectively, with an additional administrator with juridical background, to issue recommendations related to whether the petition lies within the competence of European law.

Documents
2014/03/11
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2014/03/10
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2014/02/19
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Petitions adopted an own-initiative report by Jarosław Leszek WAŁĘSA (EPP, PL) on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2013.

The report acknowledged the substantial and fundamental role of the Petitions Committee in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents. The petition procedure should be made more efficient, transparent, and impartial , while preserving the participatory rights of the Members of the Committee on Petitions, so that the handling of petitions will stand up to judicial review even at a procedural level.

Members noted the variety of thematic key areas concerned in the citizens’ petitions, such as fundamental rights, internal market, environmental law, public health issues, child welfare, transport and constructions, Spanish Coastal Law, new Regulation on good administration, persons with disabilities, age discrimination, public access to documents, European Schools, Fiscal Union, and the Steel Industry, animal rights and many more.

Petitions which fall under said thematic areas lend proof to the issue that the frequencies of widespread situations of unsatisfactory transposition of EU legislation or misapplication of the law are still occurring. This is why Members consider it important to enhance cooperation with Member States’ parliaments and governments, based on reciprocity , and, where necessary, to encourage Member States’ authorities to transpose and apply EU legislation with full transparency.

New horizons and relations with other institutions : the report underlined the importance of making this Committee work more substantial inside the House by raising its profile as a scrutiny Committee . It invited the newly elected Petitions Committee to nominate internal Annual Rapporteurs on the major policies, which are of concern of European petitioners, and to enhance cooperation with other parliamentary committees.

Members highlighted the need to reinforce the Petitions Committee collaboration with the other EU Institutions and bodies, and the national authorities in the Member States. Structured dialogue and systematic cooperation with Member States especially with the National Parliaments’ Petitions Committees should be enhanced. For their part, Member States are urged to play a proactive role in responding to petitions related to the implementation and enforcement of European law.

Working methods : the committee is invited to adopt final internal rules to ensure maximum efficiency and openness in the work of the Committee and to make proposals to revise accordingly the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

The Petitions Committee is called upon to adopt clear deadlines in the process of petitions in order to speed up the petitions life-cycle in the European Parliament and make the whole process even more transparent and democratic. This could put in place a defined lifecycle of the petition from registration until their final closure in the European Parliament.

These deadlines should establish an alert mechanism which automatically draws Members’ attention to petitions on which there has not been any action or correspondence for a considerable amount of time, in order to avoid old petitions staying open over years without substantial reason.

Lastly, Members called for an urgent revision of the relevant rules , in order to enable the newly elected Members to carry out efficient visits and report swiftly back to the petitioners and the Committee on their findings and recommendations.

Documents
2014/02/11
   EP - Vote in committee
2014/02/06
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2014/01/30
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2014/01/30
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2013/12/16
   EP - WAŁĘSA Jarosław (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in PETI

Documents

Votes

A7-0131/2014 - Jarosław Leszek Wałęsa - Résolution #

2014/03/11 Outcome: +: 482, -: 120, 0: 60
DE IT ES PL RO FR GB BG HU SK PT IE SE HR SI FI AT EL LT EE CZ MT LU BE LV NL CY DK
Total
89
60
48
42
27
61
64
15
20
13
20
11
19
12
7
11
19
15
6
6
19
5
6
18
8
23
5
12
icon: PPE PPE
232

Lithuania PPE

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Czechia PPE

1

Malta PPE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg PPE

3

Belgium PPE

Against (1)

4
2

Denmark PPE

Against (1)

1
icon: S&D S&D
170

Ireland S&D

For (1)

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Finland S&D

2

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1

Netherlands S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
71

Slovakia ALDE

For (1)

1

Slovenia ALDE

2

Finland ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

1

Lithuania ALDE

1

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Belgium ALDE

2

Denmark ALDE

3
icon: ECR ECR
50

Italy ECR

Abstain (1)

2

Hungary ECR

Against (1)

1

Croatia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Belgium ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Latvia ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Denmark ECR

Abstain (1)

1
icon: EFD EFD
23

Poland EFD

Against (1)

3

Bulgaria EFD

Abstain (1)

1

Slovakia EFD

For (1)

1

Finland EFD

For (1)

1

Greece EFD

1

Lithuania EFD

For (1)

1

Belgium EFD

Abstain (1)

1

Netherlands EFD

For (1)

1

Denmark EFD

Against (1)

1
icon: NI NI
28

Italy NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

Spain NI

1

France NI

2

United Kingdom NI

Abstain (2)

5

Bulgaria NI

1

Hungary NI

For (1)

3

Ireland NI

For (1)

1

Belgium NI

Against (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
32

Spain GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

United Kingdom GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

3

Ireland GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Croatia GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Latvia GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1

Netherlands GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

2

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Denmark GUE/NGL

Against (1)

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
55

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Portugal Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Finland Verts/ALE

Against (2)

2

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Greece Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

Abstain (1)

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1
4

Latvia Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

3

Denmark Verts/ALE

Against (1)

1
AmendmentsDossier
67 2014/2008(INI)
2014/01/30 PETI 67 amendments...
source: PE-528.021

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

committees/0/shadows/3
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Rules of Procedure EP 227-p7
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 052
procedure/legal_basis/1
Rules of Procedure EP 54
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committees/0
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events/5/docs/0/url
Old
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New
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activities
  • date: 2014-02-06T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: GERINGER DE OEDENBERG Lidia Joanna group: ALDE name: WERTHMANN Angelika group: Verts/ALE name: IRAZABALBEITIA FERNÁNDEZ Iñaki group: GUE/NGL name: CHOUNTIS Nikolaos group: EFD name: SALAVRAKOS Nikolaos responsible: True committee: PETI date: 2013-12-16T00:00:00 committee_full: Petitions rapporteur: group: PPE name: WAŁĘSA Jarosław
  • date: 2014-02-11T00:00:00 body: EP type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: S&D name: GERINGER DE OEDENBERG Lidia Joanna group: ALDE name: WERTHMANN Angelika group: Verts/ALE name: IRAZABALBEITIA FERNÁNDEZ Iñaki group: GUE/NGL name: CHOUNTIS Nikolaos group: EFD name: SALAVRAKOS Nikolaos responsible: True committee: PETI date: 2013-12-16T00:00:00 committee_full: Petitions rapporteur: group: PPE name: WAŁĘSA Jarosław
  • date: 2014-02-19T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2014-0131&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0131/2014 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2014-03-10T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20140310&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament body: EP type: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2014-03-11T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=24250&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2014-0204 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0204/2014 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees/0
type
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body
EP
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False
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Petitions
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PETI
date
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rapporteur
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docs
  • date: 2014-01-30T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE526.099 title: PE526.099 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2014-01-30T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE528.021 title: PE528.021 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2014-08-11T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=24250&j=0&l=en title: SP(2014)457 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2014-02-06T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2014-02-11T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2014-02-19T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2014-0131&language=EN title: A7-0131/2014 summary: The Committee on Petitions adopted an own-initiative report by Jarosław Leszek WAŁĘSA (EPP, PL) on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2013. The report acknowledged the substantial and fundamental role of the Petitions Committee in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents. The petition procedure should be made more efficient, transparent, and impartial , while preserving the participatory rights of the Members of the Committee on Petitions, so that the handling of petitions will stand up to judicial review even at a procedural level. Members noted the variety of thematic key areas concerned in the citizens’ petitions, such as fundamental rights, internal market, environmental law, public health issues, child welfare, transport and constructions, Spanish Coastal Law, new Regulation on good administration, persons with disabilities, age discrimination, public access to documents, European Schools, Fiscal Union, and the Steel Industry, animal rights and many more. Petitions which fall under said thematic areas lend proof to the issue that the frequencies of widespread situations of unsatisfactory transposition of EU legislation or misapplication of the law are still occurring. This is why Members consider it important to enhance cooperation with Member States’ parliaments and governments, based on reciprocity , and, where necessary, to encourage Member States’ authorities to transpose and apply EU legislation with full transparency. New horizons and relations with other institutions : the report underlined the importance of making this Committee work more substantial inside the House by raising its profile as a scrutiny Committee . It invited the newly elected Petitions Committee to nominate internal Annual Rapporteurs on the major policies, which are of concern of European petitioners, and to enhance cooperation with other parliamentary committees. Members highlighted the need to reinforce the Petitions Committee collaboration with the other EU Institutions and bodies, and the national authorities in the Member States. Structured dialogue and systematic cooperation with Member States especially with the National Parliaments’ Petitions Committees should be enhanced. For their part, Member States are urged to play a proactive role in responding to petitions related to the implementation and enforcement of European law. Working methods : the committee is invited to adopt final internal rules to ensure maximum efficiency and openness in the work of the Committee and to make proposals to revise accordingly the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. The Petitions Committee is called upon to adopt clear deadlines in the process of petitions in order to speed up the petitions life-cycle in the European Parliament and make the whole process even more transparent and democratic. This could put in place a defined lifecycle of the petition from registration until their final closure in the European Parliament. These deadlines should establish an alert mechanism which automatically draws Members’ attention to petitions on which there has not been any action or correspondence for a considerable amount of time, in order to avoid old petitions staying open over years without substantial reason. Lastly, Members called for an urgent revision of the relevant rules , in order to enable the newly elected Members to carry out efficient visits and report swiftly back to the petitioners and the Committee on their findings and recommendations.
  • date: 2014-03-10T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20140310&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2014-03-11T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=24250&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2014-03-11T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2014-0204 title: T7-0204/2014 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 482 votes to 120, with 60 abstentions, a resolution on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2013. The resolution noted that 2885 petitions were received in 2013, which was ‘the Year of the European Citizen’, representing an increase of almost 45% on the year 2012 and that for the current legislature until now, almost 10 000 petitions have been registered. Improving the petitions procedure : Parliament acknowledged the substantial and fundamental role of the Petitions Committee in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents. The petition procedure should be made more efficient, transparent, and impartial , while preserving the participatory rights of the Members of the Committee on Petitions, so that the handling of petitions will stand up to judicial review even at a procedural level. Members noted the variety of thematic key areas concerned in the citizens’ petitions, such as fundamental rights, internal market, environmental law, public health issues, child welfare, transport and constructions, Spanish Coastal Law, new Regulation on good administration, persons with disabilities, age discrimination, public access to documents, European Schools, Fiscal Union, and the Steel Industry, animal rights and many more. Petitions which fall under said thematic areas lend proof to the issue that the frequencies of widespread situations of unsatisfactory transposition of EU legislation or misapplication of the law are still occurring. This is why Parliament considers it important to enhance cooperation with Member States’ parliaments and governments, based on reciprocity , and, where necessary, to encourage Member States’ authorities to transpose and apply EU legislation with full transparency. Parliament also emphasised: the importance of citizens direct involvement in the Parliament’s activity and to have their concerns, proposals or complaints specifically addressed by the Committee members; points out the amount of work that had been done to resolve possible infringements of citizens’ rights and by cooperating with national, regional and local authorities on issues related to the application of European laws; while maintaining a vital role in reconnecting with European citizens and reinforcing the democratic legitimacy and accountability of the EU decision-making process; the Commission’s significant role in assisting with the handling of the cases raised by petitions. The Commission’s investigation of petitions should go into greater depth and look into the substance of cases with regard to EU legislation; the need to find better solutions for dealing with the submissions from citizens while taking into account Parliament’s obligations with regard to its correspondence with citizens on issues that fall outside the EU’s area of competence ; the need for a more active collaboration between the petitions committee and the SOLVIT network , which regularly uncovers and resolves problems linked to the implementation of internal market legislation. Deploring that European citizens continue to experience frequent problems caused by the misapplication of Internal Market law by public authorities while exercising their freedom of movement, Parliament called on the Commission to propose legislation to resolve the issues surrounding mutual recognition by Member States of civil status documents , while respecting the competences of the Member States. New horizons and relations with other institutions : the resolution underlined the importance of making this Committee work more substantial inside the House by raising its profile as a scrutiny Committee . It invited the newly elected Petitions Committee to nominate internal Annual Rapporteurs on the major policies, which are of concern of European petitioners, and to enhance cooperation with other parliamentary committees. Parliament highlighted the need to reinforce the Petitions Committee collaboration with the other EU Institutions and bodies, and the national authorities in the Member States. Structured dialogue and systematic cooperation with Member States especially with the National Parliaments’ Petitions Committees should be enhanced. For their part, Member States are urged to play a proactive role in responding to petitions related to the implementation and enforcement of European law. Working methods : Parliament is invited to adopt final internal rules to ensure maximum efficiency and openness in the work of the Committee. The Petitions Committee is called upon to adopt clear deadlines in the process of petitions in order to speed up the petitions life-cycle in the European Parliament and make the whole process even more transparent and democratic. This could put in place a defined lifecycle of the petition from registration until their final closure in the European Parliament. These deadlines should establish an alert mechanism which automatically draws Members’ attention to petitions on which there has not been any action or correspondence for a considerable amount of time, in order to avoid old petitions staying open over years without substantial reason. Parliament called for an urgent revision of the relevant rules , in order to enable the newly elected Members to carry out efficient visits and report swiftly back to the petitioners and the Committee on their findings and recommendations. Lastly, concerned that delays and response times are still too long throughout the registration phase and the admissibility phase in the process, Parliament called for providing the Unit for Reception and Referral of Official Documents and the Petitions Committee Secretariat, respectively, with an additional administrator with juridical background, to issue recommendations related to whether the petition lies within the competence of European law.
  • date: 2014-03-11T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
other
    procedure/Modified legal basis
    Old
    Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
    New
    Rules of Procedure EP 150
    procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
    Old
    PETI/7/14832
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    • 1.20.03 Right of petition
    • 8.40.01.06 Committees, interparliamentary delegations
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    • The Committee on Petitions adopted an own-initiative report by Jarosław Leszek WAŁĘSA (EPP, PL) on the activities of the Committee on Petitions 2013.

      The report acknowledged the substantial and fundamental role of the Petitions Committee in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents. The petition procedure should be made more efficient, transparent, and impartial, while preserving the participatory rights of the Members of the Committee on Petitions, so that the handling of petitions will stand up to judicial review even at a procedural level.

      Members noted the variety of thematic key areas concerned in the citizens’ petitions, such as fundamental rights, internal market, environmental law, public health issues, child welfare, transport and constructions, Spanish Coastal Law, new Regulation on good administration, persons with disabilities, age discrimination, public access to documents, European Schools, Fiscal Union, and the Steel Industry, animal rights and many more.

      Petitions which fall under said thematic areas lend proof to the issue that the frequencies of widespread situations of unsatisfactory transposition of EU legislation or misapplication of the law are still occurring. This is why Members consider it important to enhance cooperation with Member States’ parliaments and governments, based on reciprocity, and, where necessary, to encourage Member States’ authorities to transpose and apply EU legislation with full transparency.

      New horizons and relations with other institutions: the report underlined the importance of making this Committee work more substantial inside the House by raising its profile as a scrutiny Committee. It invited the newly elected Petitions Committee to nominate internal Annual Rapporteurs on the major policies, which are of concern of European petitioners, and to enhance cooperation with other parliamentary committees.

      Members highlighted the need to reinforce the Petitions Committee collaboration with the other EU Institutions and bodies, and the national authorities in the Member States. Structured dialogue and systematic cooperation with Member States especially with the National Parliaments’ Petitions Committees should be enhanced. For their part, Member States are urged to play a proactive role in responding to petitions related to the implementation and enforcement of European law.

      Working methods: the committee is invited to adopt final internal rules to ensure maximum efficiency and openness in the work of the Committee and to make proposals to revise accordingly the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

      The Petitions Committee is called upon to adopt clear deadlines in the process of petitions in order to speed up the petitions life-cycle in the European Parliament and make the whole process even more transparent and democratic. This could put in place a defined lifecycle of the petition from registration until their final closure in the European Parliament.

      These deadlines should establish an alert mechanism which automatically draws Members’ attention to petitions on which there has not been any action or correspondence for a considerable amount of time, in order to avoid old petitions staying open over years without substantial reason.

      Lastly, Members called for an urgent revision of the relevant rules, in order to enable the newly elected Members to carry out efficient visits and report swiftly back to the petitioners and the Committee on their findings and recommendations.

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    • url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20140310&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament
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