Policies

Committee on Petitions

What does the European Union do?

The Committee on Petitions in the European Parliament was created in 1985. The 'legal' right however to petition the Parliament, came into existence with the Maastricht Treaty, when European Citizenship was established. Later on, the right of petition for European citizens was adopted in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Art. 44) and in the Draft Charter of the European Convention (Art. II-44 and Art. III-236).

Under the new Lisbon Treaty, the right to petition has been kept under Articles 20, 24 and 227 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In addition, under Article 11 of the Treaty on the European Union, the Lisbon Treaty has provided a facility for citizens to urge the Commission to initiate new legislation or to amend legislation (European Citizens Initiative - ECI) directly.
This provision may come into force by the end of this year. The EPP Group fully supports this provision.

European citizens are also entitled to submit complaints to the European Commission (in its capacity as Guardian of the Treaties), and even directly to the European Court of Justice, albeit under a number of restrictions. Although the right to petition has for many years been clearly formulated in the Treaties, the citizens themselves remain largely uninformed and even confused about their right to petition European institutions and bodies.

What has the EPP Group achieved?

   The lack of transparency in the recruitment of Commission staff was lifted:

As a result of action taken by the European Ombudsman and the Petitions Committee, the Commission agreed to draft common and clear guidelines for the recruitment of staff, valid for all bodies and institutions of the European Union.

  The Council Directive on silicone breast implants was amended:

Commissioner Liikanen agreed with the Petititions Committee that the Council Directive on liability of the producers of silicone breast implants should be modified in favour of free-of-charge information by independent experts, health warnings on any advertising, a compulsory breast implant register to be kept by the Member States and no insertion of silicone implants into patients under 18 years of age.

  The Petitions Committee’s call for a Code of Good Administrative Behaviour was adopted:

Such a Code would apply to the administrations – and their officials – of all the Union’s institutions, bodies and agencies. The legal base of the Code is intended to be a Regulation, to be codified into primary Community law.

  The European Council sustained openness and transparency in its agenda’s and meeting documents:

Following the Ombudsman’s recommendation on the issue, the Council announced before the Petitions Committee that all Council, COREPER and Working Party agendas would be made available, including all document references.

  The Commission was called to thoroughly investigate the practices of Lloyd’s of London regarding European legislation on non-life insurances:

Many Name holders of Lloyd’s, who went bankrupt after the latter's Equitas operation, are seeking their rights by complaining their losses due to the late transposition and lack of application of the EC non life Insurance Directive 73/239/EEC. The Committee on Petitions calls for access to all documents concerned, held by the Commission – including the period prior to 1 December 2001. Case might be forwarded to the European Court of Justice.

Committee on Petitions

Each year, the Petitions Committee receives 1200 to 1500 petitions. Most of them are related to problems for European citizens in the fields of freedom of movement and environmental issues.

One of the main purposes of the EU's internal market is to allow goods, capital, AND people to circulate freely. The internal market also implies that EU citizens are free to work in any of the Member States of the European Union. However, on many occasions, and in many Member States, citizens encounter problems with for instance the recognition of diplomas, residence permits for family members, pension rights that were earned in different Member States etc.

Another issue of major concern for many EU citizens relates to the implementation of EU environmental law by the Member States of the EU. Some local and regional authorities in the Member States show a lack of knowledge or even respect concerning the environment, in spite of the existing Directives on, for example, air pollution, nature conservation, biodiversity and water pollution.

The EPP Group insists on:

  A profound review of the European Parliament's internal proceedings with regard to the petitions procedure. Such a review is necessary in order to speed up the treatment of petitions, as well as to strengthen the role of the Petitions Committee with regard to the monitoring of the application of Community law by the Member States.

  An Inter-institutional Agreement between the EU institutions with a view to a better coordination of the treatment of complaints and petitions submitted by European citizens.

  A Code of Good Administrative Behaviour, common to all EU institutions and bodies, following the European Ombudsman's Special Report of April 2000 and the Parliament's plenary resolution of September 2001 .