12 Amendments of Andris AMERIKS related to 2020/2044(INI)
Amendment 5 #
F. whereas of the 1 357 petitions submitted in 2019, 938 were declared admissible, 406 were declared inadmissible and 13 were withdrawn; whereas the relatively high percentage (30 %) of inadmissible petitions in 2019 reveals that there is still a widespread lack of clarity about the EU’s fields of activity; in this sense, it is necessary to address this problem with information campaigns dedicated to clarifying the competences of the Union as well as the procedure for submitting petitions to the European Parliament;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R a (new)
Recital R a (new)
Ra. whereas the media play a key role in any democratic system and provide more transparency to the process of the Committee on Petitions; whereas a quality press is an essential element for the whole European Union; whereas there is some confusion in some European media in relation to the role and powers of the Committee on Petitions;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Recalls the important role of the Committee on Petitions in defending and promoting the rights of EU citizens and residents, ensuring that petitioners’ concerns and complaints are examined in timely fashion and, wherever possible, resolved, through an open, democratic and transparent petition process; and avoiding a biased or politicised response to the petitioners;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasizes the importance of a continuous public debate on the Union’s fields of activity aimed at informing citizens about the scope of the Union’s competences and the different levels of decision-making, in order to reduce the number of inadmissible petitions; proposes information and training campaigns in the European Union be stepped up to ensure that EU citizens have better knowledge of the EU’s competences and to clarify the role of the Committee on Petitions among the public opinion;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Proposes to carry out campaigns and outreach events targeting journalists and the media in order to prevent vague information and thus improve the relationship between the Committee on Petitions and the media; underlines that the media plays a key role in reaching out to European citizens concerning the day- to-day work of the Committee on Petitions and can contribute through their activity to improving the knowledge that European citizens have about the work of the Committee on Petitions; stresses that it is the EU’s task to encourage European citizens to receive accurate information;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points out that petitions offer the opportunity to the European Parliament and other EU institutions to maintain a direct dialogue with EU citizens who are affected by the misapplication of EU law; becoming the entrance door of citizens in the European institutions; stresses the need for enhanced cooperation between the EU institutions and national, regional and local authorities on inquiries regarding implementation of and compliance with EU law;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the European Commission to commit to a more active involvement in the Committee on Petitions in order to ensure that petitioners receive a precise response to their requests and complaints regarding with the implementation of EU law;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Draws attention to the large number of petitions on Brexit submitted in 2019, mostly calling for the protection of EU citizens’ rights before and after Brexit; welcomes the excellent work done by the Committee on Petitions, which by giving voice to the concerns raised by these petitioners contributed to ensuring that citizens’ rights remained one of Parliament’s main priorities in the Brexit negotiations; stresses that there are many citizens – both in the EU and in the United Kingdom – who, in view of the uncertainty of a no-deal Brexit, have turned to the Committee on Petitions because of the fear of seeing their rights in danger due to the lack of agreement;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Draws attention to the majority support that the Plenary of the European Parliament gave to the Resolution of the European Parliament, of 17 January 2019, on the strategic investigation OI / 2/2017 of the European Ombudsman on the transparency of legislative debates in the bodies preparations for the Council of the European Union; recalls that the Council, as co-legislator, is an indispensable institution for the citizens of the Union; regrets that there are still many closed-door discussions and meetings in this institution; invites the Council to implement a policy of greater transparency in order to thereby improve citizens' trust in public institutions; encourages it to give a greater diffusion to certain meetings and documents in order to achieve a better communication with European citizens and with national parliaments;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Stresses that the ECI is an importantfundamental instrument for active citizenship and public participation; welcomes the adoption on 17 April 2019 of the new rules for the ECI, which bring a number of structural and technical improvements to make this instrument more user-friendly and accessible as well as to facilitate increased participation of EU citizens in the democratic process of the Union; notes the significant number of new ECIs registered by the Commission in 2019, which shows that citizens are seizing the opportunity to use participatory instruments to have a say in policymaking and lawmaking processes; calls for more dissemination campaigns on the role of the European Citizen Initiative to promote the use of this resource by European citizens and thus encourage their involvement in the democratic process of the Union;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Recalls that the Petitions Web Portal is an essential tool for ensuring a smooth, efficient and transparent petition process; welcomes, in this regard, its alignment with the ‘look and feel’ of the European Parliament’s website (Europarl), which has made the portal more responsive and accessible for citizens; stresses that efforts must be continued to make the portal more accessible to persons with disabilities in order to ensure that all citizens of the Union can exercise their right to petition the European Parliament contained in Article 20 and 24 of the TFEU and in Article 44 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Underlines that the ePetitions instrument is an important database for the Committee to function, but calls for an improvement and modernization of the interface in order to make it easier and more accessible;