NEWS

04/02/2011	Misleading Directory Companies: EP's Petitions Committee backs MEP Simon Busuttil
15/12/2010	Citizens' Initiative: easy access for a Europe closer to its citizens. Alain Lamassoure MEP
06/07/2010	Equitable Life: Policyholders likely to be short-changed in compensation scheme. Mairead McGuinness MEP
24/03/2010	Adoption: un meilleur encadrement des procédures pour préserver le droit de l'enfant. Pascale Gruny, MdPE
20/01/2010	Re-election of European Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros. Pascale Gruny MEP, EPP Coordinator in the Petitions Committee and Erminia Mazzoni, Chairwoman of the Petitions Committee

POLICY

The EU and its citizens: what has the EPP Group achieved?
	Committee on Petitions: The EPP Group insists on...

CURRENT KEY ISSUES

MEPs prioritise environmental protection in Waste Management Directive report
EPP Group Rapporteur: Carlos Iturgaiz Angulo

On February 2nd 2012, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Committee on Petitions report on the application of the Waste Management Directive by Member States, authored by Spanish EPP Group MEP, Mr Carlos Iturgaiz Angulo.

Background

The European Parliament offers citizens the chance to voice their concerns via a petition to the Committee on Petitions. Environmental issues remain the most dominant of all issues raised by petition and particularly the application of the Waste Management Directive by Member States.

Major concern over this issue spurred the Committee on Petitions to undertake a number of fact-finding visits to Ireland, France, Italy and Spain. The EPP Group committee members also backed the drafting of an own initiative report on the many petitions received concerning inappropriate waste management facilities and the improper implementation of EU legislation by the Member States.

The objective of the Carlos Iturgaiz report was to pinpoint common problems and possible solutions of general validity for the further development of the European waste sector.

Key points

In his text, the author identifies three main problem areas: a lack of sound environmental impact assessment and public consultations in the permitting procedure for landfills; the incorrect operation of waste management facilities and deficiencies in waste management systems.

The report urges Member States to speed up the transposition of the Waste framework Directive into national law, monitored by the European Commission. It stresses that major investment is required to establish waste management strategies, infrastructures and facilities in most Members states.

It also calls for the reinforcement of the existing European Environment Agency rather than the creation of a new body. It states that the recycling industry is ofen neglected and under-utilised despite its potential to provide up to half a million jobs, as certain types of waste constitute a productive resource.

In addition, the MEP encourages early and effective dialogue between responsible, local and regional authorities and local citizens in the planning stages before decisions are taken on the construction of waste treatment installations.

Finally, the report recommends imposing, in accordance with the polluter-pays principle, adequate and dissuasive fines and penalties for illegal disposal of waste (especially with regard to toxic and hazardous waste).

Result

Following its endorsement at committee level in October 2011, new compromises were reached by the Rapporteur in order to obtain a consensus within the political groups. Subsequently, Parliament approved the final text on February 2nd with 632 votes in favour, 18 votes against and 22 abstentions.


Parliament endorses Annual European Ombudsman Report 2010
EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur: Mariya Ivanova Nedelcheva

The Petitions Committee is responsible for relations with the European Ombudsman. The Ombudsman deals with complaints concerning instances of maladministration in the activities of EU institutions. On 23 May 2011, the Ombudsman presented the PETI Committee with his report for review.

Findings of the Petitions Committee

In 2010, the Ombudsman registered 2,667 complaints from citizens, companies, associations and NGO's. Only 744 or 27% were within his mandate. 326 inquires were completed in 2010 - 323 linked to complaints and three were own-initiative.

The most common allegation examined by the Ombudsman concerned a lack of transparency in EU administration. Indeed, the number of transparency related complaints has remained high over recent years.

In 2010, the Ombudsman submitted one special report to Parliament on a complaint against the Commission by a citizen on access to documents relating to CO2 emissions from cars. The Commission failed to reply to the Ombudsman's findings for almost 15 months, although the deadline established by the Treaty is three months. Parliament endorsed the Ombudsman's findings by a large majority on October 27th 2010.

The Committee on Petitions fully endorsed the new strategy that the Ombudsman formulated for his mandate 2009-2014. The main objectives are to deliver fast results by reducing the time needed to close inquiries and by developing simplified procedures for rapid resolutions of complaints, as well as to impact positively on the EU institutions' administrative culture by helping to improve administrative practices.

The report was presented to the European Parliament for approval at the October II plenary session in 2011 and was adopted on October 27th.

Report on the annual report on the European Ombudsman's activities in 2010

EVENTS

Seminar highlights need for greater awareness of fundamental rights and clear redress procedures for violations across the EU

'The Handling of Complaints on Fundamental Rights', a seminar co-organised by the European Commission and the Petitions Committee, took place at the European Parliament, Brussels on 6 October 2011.

Purpose of the seminar

Since the Lisbon Treaty and the Charter on Fundamental Rights came into force almost two years ago, the European Parliament and the Commission have dealt with many petitions and complaints regarding the application of the Charter.

Citizens' interests and expectations as regards the enforcement of the Charter are high. However, the provisions of this Charter are addressed to the institutions and bodies of the Union with due regard for the principle of subsidiarity and to the Member States only when they are implementing Union law. This general provision creates too many misunderstandings amongst the citizens and consequently, there is disillusionment in the perception of the scope of application of the Charter amongst citizens with the European Union itself. The institutions of the European Union have therefore a responsibility to remedy this situation.

It is important that people who consider that their fundamental rights are being undermined or attacked have access to practical information on the judicial and non-judicial remedies open to them at EU and Member State level. They should be able to clearly identify which institution or body is best placed to assist them. The Commission's 2010 Annual Report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provides a first assessment of the current situation.

This seminar, organised jointly by the Commission and the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, explored how complaints on fundamental rights are handled at EU and Member State level, identifying best practices in this field and examining ways to improve cooperation between responsible authorities and institutions at EU and national level.

In addition to members of the Petitions Committee; representatives from Member States; EU institutions, bodies and agencies; from the platform of organisations of National Human Rights institutions; offices of Ombudsmen (including Children's Ombudsmen); from Equality bodies; the Council of Europe and the UN were invited to attend. Speciality observers, academics, law experts representatives of civil society were given the floor.

Overview & recommendations

Viviane Reding, Vice-president of the European Commission and Erminia Mazzoni, Chairman of the Committee on Petitions, co-hosted the event and introduced the seminar.

The session brought together eminent legal experts who discussed the application of the Charter in relation to specific problems raised by complaints and petitions. Members and participants were invited to explore possible judicial and non-judicial avenues for responding to such concerns.

Practices in EU Member States

The event also provided focus on the practical aspects related to the handling of complaints, the different non-judicial redress mechanisms and how they work in practice.

The need for greater awareness and information sharing between the institutions and citizens was emphasised so that the public has more access and knowledge as to how to have their complaint heard. An informative brochure, website and social networking space were proposed in this regard.

Redress in cases of fundamental rights violations

The exchange of information at the seminar enabled participants to identify areas for further cooperation, particularly between the EU institutions and bodies that receive complaints on fundamental rights outside EU competence and the bodies at national level dealing with fundamental rights.

Speakers suggested increased awareness of the Charter of Fundamental Rights across the EU and a strengthening of respect amongst Member States for the Charter in domestic law. The European Commission was encouraged to provide more technical assistance to Institutions and to monitor the accession to the Charter in terms of implementation and judgements.

Overall, these aforementioned recommendations and others placed heavy emphasis on the need to improve access for complainants to effective redress mechanisms when their fundamental rights are violated.

Seminar Agenda

Seminar participants & related documentation

2010 ACTIVITIES

Annual Activities Report for 2010

The Committee on Petitions presented an annual report on its activities in 2010 to the European Parliament in July 2011 and it was adopted in plenary in September 2011. The report provides an overview of the petitions handled by the committee last year. It also includes suggestions on how the European Commission and Parliament can improve how it affords citizens the chance to voice their concerns through a petition format and by increasing awareness of citizen's rights.

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