Activities of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2020/2201(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Citizens’ dialogues and citizens’ participation in EU decision-making (short presentation)
Reports (1)
REPORT on Citizens’ dialogues and Citizens’ participation in the EU decision-making
Amendments (39)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas accordit is the aim to continuously improve the way in which democracy works ing tohe EU, several Eurobarometer surveys, a large proportion of EU show that citizens are not satisfied with the way democracy works in the EU and tend to distrust the EU institutions; whereas not only is this perception present at EU level, but also at national level;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
C a. whereas Article 11 (1) and (2) of the Treaty on European Union requires the institutions to give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action, and to maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
C b. whereas Article 165 (2) of the Treaty on European Union mandates the EU to encourage the development of youth exchanges and of exchanges of socio-educational instructors, and to encourage the participation of young people in democratic life in Europe;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the legal and political impact of the only bottom-up instruments for citizens in the EU, namely the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), complaints to the European Ombudsman and petitions to Parliament, is rather minimal; whereas the European Ombudsman recommendations are not legally binding;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas online public consultations carried out by the Commission are mostly aimed at a particular target group, are not widely disseminated and run for a limited amount of time, meaning that they do not reach a significant proportion of the population;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas the European Court of Auditors in a comprehensive review of the Commission's consultation policy in 2019 recommended that the Commission should improve the way it reaches out to citizens to promote greater participation;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas Citizens’ Dialogues conducted by the Commission are a way to provide information to citizens rather than to engage with them in a debate about their vision and what they would like to see change in the EU and do not provide a feedback mechanism to inform citizens about the outcomes of their participation;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the existing participatory instruments, such as the ECI, public consultations and Citizens’ Dialogues, do not provide very effective means for citizens to influence EU decision-making; whereas this is largely due to the lack of effective follow-up in the decision-making process at institutional level;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas most forms of participation are generally used by organised interest groups and notnot widely used by individual citizens; whereas individual citizens are largely unaware of the existing participatory instruments;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the current participatory instruments do not maximise the potential of citizens’ participation when it comesand therefore insufficiently contribute to strengthening the democratic legitimacy of the EU and increasing citizens’ sense of ownership towards an EU that reflects their needs and visions;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas reforming the existing participatory instruments, while paying particular attention to the most underrepresented groups of society, notably young people, and further developing a European public sphere can contribute to reinforcing the democratic legitimacy of the EU;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas there is a need to enhance the European dimension of citizenship education, by improving theircitizens' understanding of the EU, in order to enable citizens’their participation;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
K a. whereas there is the need to recognise the work of civil society organisations in civic education and learning, and to encourage a holistic approach to citizenship education, including both formal and non-formal education and informal learning;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas existing successful projects on citizen participation, such as European HomeParliaments and EU Youth Dialogue, have demonstrated that citizens would like to be included in EU decision- making processes on a regular basis; whereas the Council remains a closed- door institution as confirmed by the European Ombudsman’s inquiry OI/2/2017/TE into the Council’s lack of transparency regarding public access to its legislative documents and its decision- making process;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses the need to reflect on how the Union can become ever more democratic and effective; believes that a profound reform of the Union and possible changes to the Treaties, which would make the Union more effective, united, democratic, solidary, sovereign and resilient, are strengthened by directly engaging with citizens;
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that the existing participatory instruments should be improved and new ones developed, to make citizens’ participation more accessible, inclusive, meaningful and effective;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines the benefit of engaging with citizens and civil society in the development of a European public sphere and in the reinforccomplement ofing the democratic legitimacy of the EU provided by its representative institutions and democratic procedures;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Emphasises that the EU institutions haveneed to be informed of citizens’ concerns and need to be more attentive to these concernsmore attentive and reactive to citizens’ concerns and can benefit from additional channels of citizen input;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses the need for permanent participatory mechanisms to allow for citizens’ participation in EU decision- making at all stages and beyond the act of voting and other existing channels and instruments;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Points out that the current concept and practice of Citizens’ Dialogues should be reinforced and updated;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Highlights the fact that regularly held citizens’ dialogue participation processes with citizens could serve different purposes, such as determining annual political or legislative priorities, developing specific proposals in relation to specific questions, discussing institutional matters or deciding on the spending of certain public resources;
Amendment 84 #
8. Recalls that citizens’ dialogues should intend to provide a means for individuals to express their ideas and concerns; underlines the fact that they have to be participatory, inclusive, open, deliberate, transnational, transparent, accountable, effective, visible and attractive;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Stresses the need to enhance the European dimension of citizenship education in order to enable citizens’ participation and ability to act as responsible citizens and to fully participate in civic and social life at both, the European level as well as the Member State level, based on understanding of social, economic, legal and political concepts and structures, as well as global developments and sustainability;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Proposes to establish a European Network for Citizenship Education to provide a platform for exchange on best- practices and knowledge on methods of enhancing the European dimension of citizenship education;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Calls on the Commission to develop a comprehensive European strategy to enhance citizenship competences in the EU and develop supportive measures aimed at providing equal access to citizenship education to all people residing in the EU to enable them to exercise their political rights;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises that, in order to reach out to as many citizens as possibleincorporate the full diversity of the European population, an inclusive approach must be taken; underlines the fact that the selection of participants should ensure a well-balanced representation of the population, so that the societal diversity is fully reflected;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Emphasises that, in order to reach out to as many citizenspeople as possible, an inclusive approach must be taken; underlines the fact that the selection of participants should ensure a well-balanced representation of the population, so that the societal diversity is fully reflected;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Stresses that the purpose of citizens’ dialogueany participatory process must be communicated from the very beginning in order for them to be effective;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Recalls that, prior to the launching of these dialogueany participatory process, the EU institutions must commit themselves to following up on their outcome in the light of their competences and legislative procedures; notes that citizens’ disappointment often stems from politicians over-promising and under- delivering;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Stresses that the outcome of the participatory process must be clearly defined, so that it can be subject to a legally binding follow-up; proposes that participants should be provided with written feedback on each proposal or recommendation adjusted to different audiences at the end of such exercises, since they ensure the accountability of which institutions clarify their institutions and the credibility of such processestention to implement recommendations or justify their decision not to do so;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13 a. Calls for fact-checking and moderation with regards to disinformation in the functioning of online platforms that are used to engage with citizens;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Believes that citizens’ participatory processes, as the work of the EU administration, must adhere to the highest possible level of transparency;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Highlights the need to establish a proper follow-up mechanism for citizens’ dialogues in order to take citizens’ input seriously; proposes that part of the follow- up could be to translate the outcome into initiative reports and public hearings and to involve citizens, especially the most underrepresented groups of society, notably young people, throughout these steps;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Believes that, in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 on the ECI, in case the Commission, within the given deadlines, has failed to publish its intentions, or has set out in a communication that it intends not to take action on a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which has met the procedural requirements and is in line with the Treaties, in particular the core values of the Union, enshrined in Article 2 TEU, Parliament could decide to follow up the ECI with a legislative own-initiative report (INL); urges the Commission to commit itself to submit a legislative proposal following Parliament’s adoption of such an INL; proposes in that regard to modify the current framework agreement between the European Parliament and the European Commission;
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Proposes to support the setting up of an independent civil society forum in order to monitor the process and its follow- up by the EU institutions;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Proposes the establishment of an independent civil society organisation or foundationnetwork that brings together different democracy initiatives and that focuses on making citizens more influential in policy- making;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Proposes the introduction of a citizens’ consult' participations mechanisms for pilot projects, since this would enable citizens to be involved inluding ‘participatory budgeting’ to allow the shaping of the expenditure side of the Union's budget and would therefore pave the way towards creating a participative budget at EU level‘crowdsourcing’ to enable citizens to be involved in the co-creation of policies with EU decision-makers;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)