Activities of Eleonora EVI related to 2020/2275(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on engaging with citizens: the right to petition, the right to refer to the European Ombudsman and the European Citizens’ Initiative
Amendments (29)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the number of petitions remained modest in relation to the total population of the EU confirming the need for major efforts and tailored measures to increase public awareness and achieve significative improvements concerning the exercise of the right to petition; whereas on average around 1 200 petitions are submitted to the European Parliament each year;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the enhancement of the right to petition can only be achieved by improving the capacity of the EU institutions and Member States to arrive at timely and effective solutions to issues raised by petitioners, ensuring full protection of citizens' fundamental rights;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the Commission is still failing to provide comprehensive information on the number of petitions that led to the initiation of an infringement procedure or to any other legislative or non-legislative action as well as on developments in infringement procedures directly linked to petitions;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E d (new)
Recital E d (new)
Ed. whereas the Commission based its strategy to deal with petitions on its 2016 Communication titled “EU law: Better results through better application", which has no provisions establishing administrative procedure or practice concerning petitions; whereas the Commission's approach resulted in systematically refusing to take action on individual petition issues and on petitions concerning areas where the EU has the competence to support, coordinate or supplement Member States’ action;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E e (new)
Recital E e (new)
Ee. whereas the Commission refused to deal with individual petitions, which denounced further EU law violations directly related to the same issues of ongoing infringement cases; whereas the Commission refrained from taking any action on individual petition issues even in presence of EU law violations which severely undermined fundamental rights for a relevant number of citizens and residents in the EU;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E f (new)
Recital E f (new)
Ef. whereas the Commission's strategy in dealing with petitions based on its 2016 Communication entitled “EU law: Better results through better application" lacks of clear, predictable and transparent criteria on the Commission's way to consider a petition's case which falls within issues of wider principles or is related to a systematic failure to enforce EU law, including those cases where there is already in place an infringement case on the same issue;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas one of the EU’s priority objectives must be to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of its institutions ensuring effective protection of citizens' fundamental rights, an enhanced citizens' involvement in shaping the EU political agenda and full transparency of the EU decision-making processes;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Reminds that the way issues raised in petitions are treated has a decisive impact on citizens as regards the effective respect of the right to petition enshrined in the EU Treaties as well as on citizens' judgement of the institutions of the Union;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Criticises the Commission's strategic decision to refrain from taking any action on individual petition issues as it is at odds with its duty to oversee the correct application of EU law throughout the Union as enshrined in the EU Treaties; regrets that the Commission's current approach on individual petition issues is resulting in no other option for petitioners than pursuing lengthy and expensive judicial procedures to address EU law violations, also in Member States affected by severe shortcomings concerning the independence, quality and efficiency of the judiciary;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Regrets that the Commission's refusal to take action on individual petitions issues and on petitions falling within areas where the Union has competence to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States constitutes a breach of the current EU Treaties' provisions related to the right to petition as this latter is not limited to issues of strategic importance or reflecting structural problems;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Calls on the Commission to timely revise its current strategic approach in handling petitions as it results in leaving untreated, inter alia, issues concerning serious violations of EU law detrimental to the protection of citizens' rights;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Urges the Parliament and the Commission to adopt a binding inter- institutional agreement on the handling of petitions in order to ensure a clear, predictable and transparent legal framework aimed at consistently implementing the right to petition established in the EU Treaties and effectively protecting citizens' fundamental rights;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that there is a mismatch betwmajor improvements are needed to meent citizens’ expectations as towhen they exercise the right to petition; asks the EU iInstitutions’ powers to solve individual problems and the limitations the Treaties impose on the EU institutions; to exploit the full potential of the petition tool ensuring a proper treatment and follow-up of petitions received and doing their utmost to solve individual problems so as to prevent situations in which the public have unrealistic expectations and then feel disappointed in the EU institutions,; calls for more information to be provided to citizens on the Union’s competences and the limits of the right to petitionright to petition and for enhancing cooperation with Member States' authorities to fully protect citizens' rights arising from EU law;
Amendment 49 #
5. Draws attention to the potential that the right to petition has when it comes to warning the EU institutions about possible loopholes in Union law, or breaches or poor implementation thereof, both systemically and as regards specific and individual cases; calls on the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, to pay closer attention to the issues raised in petitions and to ensure that they give rise to propere correct application of EU law throughout the Union by conducting effective inquiries so that genuine improvementsolutions can be madeachieved; emphasises that, in cases where the Commission does not have legislative powers, the Commission still has and shouldmust effectively use the possibility to act by providing coordination or support;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Criticises the Commission for its lack of a proper system to collect information on petitions and how they link with infringement procedures or EU acts, also confirmed by the shortcomings in the Commission’s annual reports on monitoring the application of EU law, which refer to petitions in a very general way;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on civil society as a whole to tap the full potential of the right to petition when it comes to effecting policy and legislative changes at EU level; calls on civil society organisations to make bettera more frequent use of petitions as instruments of direct democracy;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Conference on the Future of Europe to reflect on and debate the right to petition, and, along with members of the public, to look at ways to improve its knowledge of and access to the right to petitionfor citizens and residents in the EU as well as its implementation at EU level;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls for a common database to be set up between the Parliament and the Commission in order to share in a transparent and cooperative way information on all Commission's follow- up actions taken on petitions, including EU Pilots and infringement procedures, legislative proposals and any other EU act;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Welcomes the recent changes made to the Statute of the European Ombudsman, which will further enhance the right of EU citizens and residents to complain about maladministration, in particular in the areas of whistle-blower protection, harassment and conflicts of interest; strongly believes that the Ombudsman must be awarded an increased budget providing her with the necessary resources to effectively handle the overall workload;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Congratulates the Ombudsman on the remarkable work she has done on the accessibility of EU documents, in particular the application of the fast-track procedure to deal with such requests; notes with concern that the current legislation on public access to EU documents is severely obsolete; considers a priority the revision of Regulation (EC) n. 1049/2001 to guarantee full transparency and full public access to the documents held by the EU Institutions; calls on the Ombudsman to continue her efforts in this direction, because full and timely access to documents, including when the legislative process is ongoing, is essential to ensure proper engagement of citizens and civil society in the decision- making process;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Regrets that the lack of a legislative follow-up by the Commission on the largest part of successful ECIs undermined the goal of enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the Union through enhanced participation of citizens in its democratic and political life;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. CStresses the need for a revision of the EU Treaties' provisions on the ECI to greatly improve rules on the legislative follow-up to be given to successful ECIs; urges the Commission, under the current Treaties, to commit itself to submitting a legislative proposal following Parliament’s adoption of a legislative own-initiative report (INL) based on a successful ECI which initially had no legislative follow-up by the Commission; calls on the Commission to improve the ECI tool to make citizens’ participation more accessible, given the low number of ECIs that have ultimately been successful;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Emphasises the role of these three participatory instruments, which is to facilitate and encourage the engagement of citizens and residents of the EU achieving a concrete direct impact on the EU political agenda and on the EU decision- making processes; calls for the establishment and promotion of a large- scale, one-stop interinstitutional website to provide information on all the instruments that enable the public to participate directly in and influence decision-making at EU level;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Emphasises how important transparency is in the process of dealing with citizens’ initiatives and complaints; calls on the Commission to take the necessary steps to guarantee full transparency; expresses its support for the European Ombudsman’s efforts to make all the EU institutions and bodies much more transparent and accountable to EU citizens;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28 a. Regrets that the lack of a legislative follow-up by the Commission on the largest part of successful ECIs undermined the goal of enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the Union through enhanced participation of citizens in its democratic and political life;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. CStresses the need for a revision of the EU Treaties' provisions on the ECI to greatly improve rules on the legislative follow-up to be given to successful ECIs; urges the Commission, under the current Treaties, to commit itself to submitting a legislative proposal following Parliament’s adoption of a legislative own-initiative report (INL) based on a successful ECI which initially had no legislative follow-up by the Commission; calls on the Commission to improve the ECI tool to make citizens’ participation more accessible, given the low number of ECIs that have ultimately been successful;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35
35. Emphasises the role of these three participatory instruments, which is to facilitate and encourage the engagement of citizens and residents of the EU achieving a concrete direct impact on the EU political agenda and on the EU decision- making processes; calls for the establishment and promotion of a large- scale, one-stop interinstitutional website to provide information on all the instruments that enable the public to participate directly in and influence decision-making at EU level;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Emphasises how important transparency is in the process of dealing with citizens’ initiatives and complaints; calls on the Commission to take the necessary steps to guarantee full transparency; expresses its support for the European Ombudsman’s efforts to make all the EU institutions and bodies much more transparent and accountable to EU citizens;