Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-07-05-Speech-1-144"

PredicateValue (sorted: default)
rdf:type
dcterms:Date
dcterms:Is Part Of
dcterms:Language
lpv:document identification number
"en.20100705.19.1-144"2
lpv:hasSubsequent
lpv:speaker
lpv:spokenAs
lpv:translated text
"Mr President, it is my pleasure to come here, as we do every year, to present the annual report on the activities of the Committee on Petitions during the year 2009. In conclusion, my final words – and how could it be any other way, Mr President – are of thanks to the committee’s secretariat for its work and support in drawing up this report. As you know, this year, the activity of the Committee on Petitions was marked by the change from the sixth to the seventh parliamentary term, which has meant significant alterations to the composition of the committee, since two thirds of its members are involved for the first time. The report aims to offer a clear vision of the activity of the Committee on Petitions during the year and, ultimately, a more specific explanation of what submitting a petition to the European Parliament involves, as well as the possible result of the process, what it can achieve and its limitations. This report also examines the progress made in applying previous recommendations whose objective was to improve the committee’s work, and highlights the main challenges for the future in light of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, as well as confirming the right to petition the European Parliament as one of the pillars of European citizenship, has also established the necessary bases for increasing public participation in the European Union’s decision-making process, offering Europeans the opportunity to suggest improvements or additions to the Union’s legislation. To this end, the Committee on Petitions welcomes the fact that it is able, under Rule 50 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, to work alongside the Committee on Constitutional Affairs on drawing up the report on the European Citizens’ Initiative, which should be finished late this year. Moreover, following the same context of the Treaty of Lisbon, Parliament’s Committee on Petitions should forge closer working links with similar committees in Member States’ national and regional parliaments in order to promote mutual understanding of petitions on European issues and to ensure the swiftest response to members of the public at the most appropriate level. I would also draw your attention to the legally binding force acquired by the Charter of Fundamental Rights with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, and underline the importance of the Charter in making fundamental rights clearer and more visible to all Europeans. I trust that all necessary procedural steps will be taken to ensure that the institutional aspects of EU accession to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will be taken. This goal is of vital importance if we take into account the problem of violations of property rights that the Committee on Petitions faces in certain Member States on a daily basis, knowing that neither the committee nor Parliament is in a position to take any legal action. I would also stress the excellent relations that Parliament has with the European Ombudsman. We particularly appreciate the efforts of the European Ombudsman to raise public awareness of its work, as well as to identify and resolve cases of maladministration by the European institutions. To this end, we support the idea that the European Ombudsman should establish an administrative code of conduct for the European Union administration. We call for the development of an online system that clearly indicates the various complaints mechanisms available to the public and which of these is most appropriate to their interests; the establishment of an online one-stop shop would be needed in order to achieve this. However, not everything was going to be positive. I would like to take this opportunity to protest at the practice – which has been constant since 2007 – of the Directorate-General for the Presidency and the Directorate-General for Communication, whereby items that are not petitions are registered as petitions, according to Rule 201(1) of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure. I am talking about the so-called ‘non-petitions’. Processing them is an unnecessary waste of time, on top of the cost of dedicating staff to this. In order for you to realise the importance of this point, I will give you one figure: these so-called ‘non-petitions’ are up to 25% of the petitions registered. The practice of such maladministration endangers the rights of EU citizens. Finally, but no less important because of that, I would point out the need to adopt a code of conduct for the internal processing of petitions. To this end, I would encourage the secretariat and the representatives of the political groups to work on drawing up a revised guide for the benefit of Members on the internal regulations and procedures of the Committee on Petitions."@en1
lpv:videoURI

Named graphs describing this resource:

1http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/English.ttl.gz
2http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/Events_and_structure.ttl.gz
3http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/rdf/spokenAs.ttl.gz

The resource appears as object in 2 triples

Context graph