Activities of Siôn SIMON related to 2014/2257(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European Citizens' Initiative (A8-0284/2015 - György Schöpflin)
Amendments (14)
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas a number of institutions, NGOs, think tanks and civil society groups have considered the various deficiencies in the implementation of the Regulation on the Citizens’ Initiative and in the organisation of ECIs and have proposed many improvements;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that the Citizens' Initiative is an exceptional opportunity for citizens to identify and articulate their aspirations and to ask for EU action, and that it. However, at the same time recognises that there are significant deficits which need to be tackled and solved in order to make the ECI more effective. Therefore the ECI must be encouraged, simprovlified and supported in order to bring about practical improvements; further stresses that the use of one's mother tongue is a civic right, and that all activities connected with an ECI may therefore be undertaken in one's mother tongue;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to provide as much guidanceppropriate guidance as early as possible – especially of a legal nature – to organisers of ECIs via the Europe Direct Contact Centre, so that they are aware of the possibilities open to them and will not fail by proposing an ECI that is outside the Commission's powers, or else to assign the task of giving advice to another independent company or body so as to avoid a possible conflict of interest within the Commission itself; notes, however, that under the Treaty of Lisbon the issues raised by ECIs may not correspond entirely to the Commission's jurisdiction; takes the view, furthermore, that the Commission should consider setting up a dedicated ECI office in each Member State;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that under the terms of Article 4 of Regulation 211/2011, in the event of a refusal by the Commission to register an ECI, ‘the Commission shall inform the organisers of the reasons for such refusal and of all possible judicial and extrajudicial remedies available to them’; acknowledges, in this connection, the many complaints from organisers about not receiving detailed and exhaustive reasons for the rejection of their ECIs, and; invites the Commission to provide as many elements as possible in order to explain the reasons and guide organisers to a possible solutionexplain in detail the reasons for rejection of an ECI if in its view an ECI which has been submitted is ‘manifestly outside the Commission’s powers’ and at the same time to inform the organisers of the relevant legal considerations, so that they can decide whether to revise their ECI and resubmit it in a modified form;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Invites the Commission to consider the possibility of registering only part of an initiative in the event that the entire ECI does not fall within the Commission's powers, and to give the organisers, at the time of registration, an indication as to which part they could register. Recognising that dialogue and engagement with ECI organisers is essential throughout the process;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Commission to improve the user-friendly character of its software for the online collection of signatures, particularly for people with disabilities and to offer its servers for the storage of online signatures for free on a permanent basis using existing EU budgets;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Invites the Commission to reconsider the automatic start of the signature collection period following the registratCalls for an end to the automatic link between the registration of an ECI and the beginning of the 12-month period within which expressions of an ECI and to allow the organisers to decide when it should beginsupport can be collected, so that the organisers of an ECI themselves can decide when they wish to start to collect expressions of support;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Deems it too complicated for organisers to provide different personal data in support of ECIs in the 28 Member States, as laid down in Regulation 211/2011 on the basis of the various national provisions, and suggests that consideration be given to establishing an EU digital citizenship; calls on the Commission, therefcalls for the introduction of a uniform procedure for making statements of support; urges the Member States, accordingly, to dispense with personal identification numbers as a requirement for making a statement of support, since they are not only a needless bureaucratic obstacle to the collection of statements of supporet, to explore this issue in its digital agendabut are also not necessary in order to check the identity of a signatory;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls for the requirements for signatories under Article 3(4) to be amended and for the minimum age for supporting a citizens' initiative not to be tied to the right to vote in elections to the European Parliament, but, rather, to be uniformly set at 16 across the EU in order to give young people in particular the possibility of becoming actively involved in taking the European project forward;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Invites theEncourages Member States to be flexible in their verification when they receive statements of support for an ECI which are just above the threshold of 1 million signatures, with a view to allowforwarding its submission;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to revisefor revision of the wording of Article 10(c) of Regulation 211/2011 so as to allow propermore extensive follow-up to a successful ECI, including a parliamentary debate in plenary followed by a vote on the ECI; urges the Commission to start preparing a legal act on successful ECIs within 12 months of their acceptanceafter issuing a positive opinion;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Takes the view that, in order to emphasise the political dimension of ECIs, a public hearing held under the terms of Article 11 of Regulation 211/2011 should be structured in such a way as to allow organisers to engage in a dialogue with Members of the European Parliament and relevant Commission officials; stresses that hearings on ECIs should be organised by a neutral committee that does not have the main responsibility for their subject- matter;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Invites the Commission to explore the possibility of funding ECIs through theexisting EU budgets, via European programmes such as the Europe for Citizens programme and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme, givenmindful that there is a real need for financial support for the organisation of ECIs and that numerous amendments to the EU budget have been submitted to this end;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the Commission's report of 1 April31st March 2015 on the ECI and calls on it to . The Commission should work on the European Citizens' Initiative in order to perceive it more positively as an instrument for citizens to influence European legislation. Therefore the ECI should promote the dialogue and engagement process with the citizens in order to facilitate the constitution of such initiatives. Calls on the Commission to ensure that, in its revision of this instrument, all the appropriate legal measures are implemented when an ECI is deemed to have been completed successfully;