Activities of Sylvia-Yvonne KAUFMANN related to 2014/2257(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
European Citizens' Initiative (debate) DE
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the European Citizens’ Initiative PDF (170 KB) DOC (118 KB)
Amendments (21)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8
Citation 8
– having regard to the Commission report of 31 AprilMarch 2015 on the European Citizens’ Initiative,
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the European Citizens’ Initiative is an extraordinary and innovative tool of participatory democracy in the European Union, whose potential must be exploited fully and enhanced in order to achieve the best resultencourage as many citizens of the Union as possible to participate in the further development of the European integration process;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, three years on from the entry into application of Regulation 211/2011 on 1 April 2012, it is necessary to thoroughly evaluate its implementation in order to identify any shortcomings and to propose viable solutions for its prompt reviewsion;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the majority of organisers of European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs) have encountered a number of difficulties in setting up an ECI, in relation to both practical and legal aspects, and whereas the organisers of several rejected ECIs have consequently submitted complaints to the Court of Justice and the European Ombudsman against the Commission’s decision, as has emerged from extensive contact with civil society and from research on not to register their ECIs;
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 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to provide as much guidance as possiblcomprehensive guidance – 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 tomanifestly outside the Commission’s jurisdictionpowers; takes the view, furthermore, that the Commission should consider setting up a dedicated ECI office at its representations 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 54 #
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;
Amendment 61 #
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 and in particular to make it more accessible for people with disabilities, and to offer its servers for the storage of online signatures for free on a permanent basis;
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 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Acknowledges the delicate problem of organisers’ personal liability with regard to data protection when collecting signatories’ personal data, and proposes that the range of data required be reduced, or liability extended to volunteer campaigners, and that the wording of Article 13 of Regulation 211/2011, on liability, be changed to make it clear that personal liability is not unlimited; proposes, to this end, that citizens' committees should be able to acquire legal personality and that inspiration be drawn from Article 3 of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on the protection of the environment through criminal law, with a view to establishing that organisers are responsible for acts which are ‘unlawful and committed intentionally or with at least serious negligence’;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
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 104 #
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; stresses that hearings on ECIs should be organised byunder the auspices of a 'neutral' committee, i.e. a body that does not have the main responsibility for their subject- matter in terms of content, and that external experts should furthermore be involved at all times;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Invites the Commission to explore the possibility of fundingproviding financial support for ECIs through the EU budget, via European programmes such as the Europe for Citizens programme and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme, given 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 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the Commission’s report of 31 AprilMarch 2015 on the ECI and calls on itEuropean Ombudsman decision OI/9/2013/TN, and 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;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission, in view of the various shortcomings which have arisen, to submit as soon as possible a proposal to revise Regulation No 211/2011;