MEPs report on the activities of the Committee on Petitions in 2008

MEPs express their hope that its powers will be extended in the next Parliament, to better allow it to represent the views of the European citizens.

 

In 2008, the Committee on Petitions received 1,886 petitions from across Europe, compared to 1,506 in 2007, and increasingly these petitions are being submitted electronically rather than by letter.  The highest number of petitions came from Germany, followed by Spain, Romania, Italy and Poland.  Petitions concerning the environment made up the majority of submissions (309), with fundamental rights being the second biggest issue.

 

Two of the biggest issues for 2008 were the report on the misleading directory companies, and the one-seat petition signed by 1.5m people which is calling for the European Parliament to be located only in Brussels.  The House notes that this issue has not yet been fully dealt with.

 

 

Several groups from Ireland submitted petitions concerning the environment, including the Nevitt Lusk Action group who were opposed to a landfill site due to the potentially harmful impact on the region's horticulture and the lack of consideration by the Irish authorities to the Water Framework Directive, as the site was over an aquifer.  The committee was represented at the National Planning Board hearing for this issue.

 

Parliament is also concerned with the actions of Ireland's National Roads Agency, as it ignored EU Directives when planning the route of the M3 motorway, which would have "devastating" effects on some of the nation's most important heritage sites.  This was one of a number of ways in which Ireland had not "properly implemented the Environmental impact assessment Directive."

 

Despite having received a number of petitions on environmental issues in Ireland, the House welcomes the fact that the Irish Environment Minister acknowledged and acted on many of the points raised by the petitions.  In particular, the report mentions positive progress on petitions relating to drinking water.

 

 

In December 2008, Ann Abraham, the UK Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman addressed the Petitions Committee to present the findings concerning the Equitable Life case.  The EP is still waiting for a detailed communication from the British Government, and the House expresses its disappointment with the response from the British authorities.

 

Another issue which occupied much of the committee's time was that of rights of property owners, such as the Spanish urbanisation issue, and property owners who are seeking compensation "dating from previous political regimes before democratisation."

 

 

The report welcomes "the involvement and contribution" of EU citizens, and hopes to encourage them to keep coming forward with issues concerning the European Union which directly concern them.  Parliament acknowledges its distinctive role within the European Parliament, as it is uniquely positioned "to assess the reactions of European citizens to the way in which Member States apply, or do not apply European law", and calls on the Commission to ensure that it puts greater emphasis on the petitions process.

 

National and regional parliaments should remain "vigilant" in the way that Member States apply treaties and EU legislation, according to the report, as they are the representatives of the European citizens.

 

MEPs acknowledge that infringement processes, even when they are successful may not result in immediate action related to the specific concerns of the petitioner.  Therefore, the House is calling on the Commission and all Member States to ensure that they fully cooperate with the relevant committees in order to find solutions to the issues raised by petitioners.

 

 

A one dimensional guide to the work of the Petitions Committee is provided by statistics. As with a lot of statistics they hide more than they explain, yet in an annual report one is obliged to pay attention to the numbers. Thus, in 2008 the Petitions Committee registered 1886 petitions compared to 1506 in 2007, which was fifty per cent more than in 2006. The largest number of petitions was received from Germany and Spain, followed by Romania and Italy, Poland and the UK. Ireland also submitted a considerable number of petitions, the - largest per capita, bearing in mind the size of the population.

 

A larger proportion of individual petitions were received from Germany and Romania whereas Spain and France were more likely to contribute petitions which were backed up by NGOs or community associations and local bodies complaining about the alleged lack of respect for the application of EU Directives. It would appear that German and Italian citizens are more likely to have submitted petitions concerning the EU itself. For the first time the number of petitions submitted electronically were more than those submitted by letter (59.2 v 40.8%). The proportion of inadmissible petitions has also increased from about 30% to 40%.

 

 

Country	Petitions received
Germany	265
Spain	226
Romania	207
Italy	184
Poland	105
United Kingdom	99
Greece	97
France	86
Bulgaria	65
Ireland	58
Finland	36
Belgium	31
Netherlands	24
Malta	21
Austria	20
Hungary	17
Czech Republic	14
Sweden	12
European Union	330