Find a petition
Petitions do not appear instantly on the Petition Portal after their submission. They are published following their adoption by the Committee on Petitions. This processing takes some time as it depends on the number of petitions being processed at any given time.
The petitioner objects to lending rates being advertised in an imprecise manner (e.g. ‘from ... %’), as this makes comparisons and user-friendly transparency more difficult to achieve. According to him, prospective borrowers are not made aware of what criteria influence lending rates and to what extent, or what they should change to obtain more favourable rates. For credit interest there is a clear indication of which interest rate is applicable to which asset and over what period. The petitioner would like to see debit interest subjected to the same transparency.
The petitioner expresses his interest in making it possible for YouTube users to establish whether the content they are viewing is being censored in any way. This would make for informed audiences. The petitioner considers it problematic that YouTube uses demonetisation as a way of protecting viewers against unpleasant or harmful content – something it is allowed to do. YouTube maintains, on the other hand, that small and medium-sized channels do not have a way of acting swiftly to make contact and solve problems concerning videos wrongly selected for demonetisation. The petitioner points out that, because demonetising also means concealing the videos concerned from users’ feeds, it could also constitute censorship and can be used in a biased way to control opinion and curb freedom of speech. The petitioner proposes a simple, cost-free and easy-to-implement way of counteracting malicious attempts to use demonetisation to stop the free exchange of ideas and opinions. He suggests that a small icon be displayed just before the title of the video to tell users whether or not the video is monetised. For example, a green coin before the title could mean ‘monetised’; a yellow coin before the title could mean ‘not monetised’; and a red coin before the title could mean ‘demonetised’. The ‘demonetised’ icon could be used on its own as a way of obliging a company that has already decided to enforce a type of censorship to be transparent about that censorship.
The petitioner explains that several studies have revealed that tampons and hygienic napkins contain toxic substances and that several women die from such intoxications each year. He states that the different hygienic products are not regulated in a specialized piece of legislation. On the contrary, they fall under Directive 2001/95/EC on the general safety of products under which it is not mandatory for the manufacturers to indicate the components and/or ingredients of their products. He calls on the European Parliament to initiate a specialized EU legislative act which would oblige the manufacturers of hygienic products to indicate their components.
The petition was declared inadmissible by the Committee on Petitions on 15 May 2020: Incoherent reasoning with an unclear link to the Union’s fields of activity (List 3).
The petitioner calls for better regulation and more transparency of social networks. In his view, social networks play an important role in forming opinions by society but on the other hand are extremely susceptible to manipulation. He claims that the flow of information on social networks is regulated according to internal guidelines that are unclear to both users and to authorities. He is particularly concerned by the influence of bots imitating the behaviour of human users on spreading information and forming opinions in society as well as by the algorithms limiting access to information by pre-selecting information made accessible to a given user.
The petitioner calls for the reasons behind EU lockdown to be disclosed.
The petitioner asks for the creation of a transparency portal with detailed information on Member State spending of EU funding granted for COVID-19 relief. The petitioner is concerned that in Portugal, and many other EU countries, this money is spent inefficiently and irresponsibly and provides examples to support his claims.
In view of the petitioner, there is a general absence of conditions on affordable access, transparency and open science in the agreements on COVID 19 vaccines signed by the governments. The EU and its member states that have financed a great deal of vaccination research are in a unique position to demand and achieve much greater transparency concerning the development and purchase contracts, the number of doses given to each country, the prices paid, clinical trial data, intellectual property conditions and fair distribution of doses inside the EU. It is especially unacceptable and undermines public confidence that the European Commission and EU member-state governments have imposed legal restraints on talking publicly about their COVID-19 vaccine deals signed with industry. The petitioner asks the European Commission to share a number of documents in relation with the EU vaccine strategy, among them the complete contracts and other agreements signed by the EU and its member states with pharmaceutical companies, clinical trial results and protocols of potential COVID 19 vaccine research, prices, quantity of vaccine and delivery dates of vaccine doses agreed between member states and pharmaceutical companies
The petitioner demands that the score of the German credit rating agency “Schufa” be made fully transparent. At present, parts of the calculation basis are secret, which, according to the petitioner, violates democratic principles. According to the petitioner, low-income households are discriminated against because citizens living in structurally weak regions are rated lower. The petitioner fears that a large proportion of citizens with a migration background are disadvantaged in the granting of loans.
The petitioner alleges that the lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, along with a disregard for potential vaccine-related diseases, was a major lack of responsibility on the part of the governments, especially, considering the manipulation and social fear used. The petitioner believes that this mismanagement, allegedly driven by the economic interests of pharmaceutical companies and governments, exacerbates their responsibility for adverse vaccine effects such as blood clots and strokes. He adds that there is an urgent need for a thorough, transparent investigation of vaccine side effects and fair compensation for affected families.
The petitioner calls for the official publication of the sequence of messenger RNA used in the vaccine developed by Moderna against the Covid-19 virus and to demonstrate that it produces the same SARSCoV-2 protein S in the cells of vaccinated people. He believes that using a different protein would give people a different immunisation, which would make it possible for messenger RNA vaccines to be used to achieve targeted genocide of the population.
The petitioner states that the extraordinary measures adopted by the Spanish Government to tackle the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the declaration of a state of emergency through Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March, have led to a situation whereby the government is not fulfilling its duty of transparency, which has meant a continuous infringement of the right of the Spanish people to access public information. The closure of the Transparency Portal, incorporated in the suspension of administrative deadlines laid down in the Third Additional Provision of RD 463/2020 of 14 March, makes it impossible for citizens to exercise their right to know what decisions their government is taking and how public funds are being used.
The petitioner protests against the modus operandi of the Italian Government and of the Prime Minister, G. Conte. The petitioner believes that they are governing by decree, outside the democratic oversight mechanisms laid down in the Constitution, thus depriving the country’s parliament of the powers of representation conferred on it by the Italian people. He considers that these abuses constitute high treason and an attack on the Italian Constitution and the rule of law in the European Union.
The petitioner claims that Malta has not complied with its obligations under Directive 2014/36/EU, Directive 2014/66/EU and Directive (EU) 2016/801 to make easily accessible the information on entry and residence in the country and to publish information on all documents needed for a residence application. In particular, the petitioner states that the website of the agency Identity Malta, which is the agency responsible for issuing residence documentation, does not provide any information on the conditions for residence of seasonal workers (Directive 2014/36/EU) and intra-corporate transferees (Directive 2014/66/EU), nor does it provide the necessary application forms. The petitioner explains that in relation to Directive (EU) 2016/801, the agency Identity Malta has provided information only for students, but there is no information about residence related to research, training and voluntary service. In addition, the petitioner states that Jobsplus, which is another governmental agency dealing with employment-related residence applications, has published employment licenses guidelines but these guidelines do not contain the necessary information about conditions of employment for purposes governed by Directive 2014/36/EU, Directive 2014/66/EU and Directive (EU) 2016/801. Accordingly, the petitioner requests the European Parliament to investigate Malta’s compliance with these three directives.
The petitioner reports that Belgium’s customs service and its postal services operator Bpost systematically demand the payment of customs duties and VAT on packages sent from one private individual to another when the sender lives in a country that is not a member of the European Union. The petitioner says that these charges are imposed even when a customs declaration attached to the item states that it is a gift, and irrespective of the value of said item and even if the value is below the threshold announced by Bpost. The petitioner says that it is impossible to obtain information on how the VAT is calculated. Moreover, the petitioner reports that even when the customs declaration is properly and correctly completed, the customs service and Bpost arrange matters such that it is the recipient’s responsibility to prove the non-existence of fraud they claim exists. The petitioner calls for an inquiry to be held into how these two services reach the decision that customs duties and VAT should be charged, and into the procedure employed to calculate the amounts they estimate must be paid by the recipients of these non-commercial packages sent from countries that are not members of the European Union.
The petitioner considers that a transparent procedure to monitor proper use is important for the EU assistance earmarked for Belarusian democratic civil society. There is a concern that lobbyists for the President would be involved in the process. In order to avoid reputational and financial losses for the EU, he asks the European Parliament the following questions: Is there a committee tasked with determining the most effective ways of using the allocated funds for the benefit of the Belarusian people? Have any basic principles been drawn up on which the assistance should be based? What are the criteria for providing the financial support, and who will be the recipients?
The petitioners note that the principles of publicity and transparency are inherent in the legislative procedures of the European Union. The petitioners refer to the EU General Court decision in case T-163/21 stipulating that in a system based on the principle of democratic legitimacy, citizens should be able to follow the decision-making process within the institutions involved in legislative procedures and have access to all the relevant information. In this context, preparatory legislative documents should be made directly accessible and published in the Institution’s register of documents, but allegedly this is not yet the case for thousands of documents exchanged in Council working groups and in the interinstitutional negotiation meetings (trilogues). Therefore, the petitioners call on the European Parliament to publish in its register the draft agendas of the trilogue meetings, the documents exchanged during the meetings as well as the outcome of proceedings of each meeting. For this purpose, the petitioners suggest amending Rules 70, 122(2) and (3) of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, the Code of Conduct for negotiating in the context of the ordinary legislative procedures as well as the Bureau Decision governing public access to the European Parliament documents in order to require the registration and proactive publication of ‘trilogues’ related documents. In addition, the petitioners call on the European Parliament to invite the Council and the Commission to revise accordingly the Joint Declaration on practical arrangements for the codecision procedure and the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making. Finally, the petitioners call on the European Parliament to make it easier for citizens to access legislative information and propose for this purpose the setting up of a ‘participative legislative platform’ where civil society can exchange views and submit suggestions during the legislative procedures by having access to the preparatory documents discussed in the three Institutions.
The petitioner complains that, as a result of the lack of transparency in product labelling in the European Union, people who follow a strictly vegetarian diet are obliged to consume products which contain ingredients that are not acceptable, for example, for Jains from India. The petitioner says that products should provide transparent information without using codes that might be misleading in terms of the composition of allegedly vegetarian products.
The petitioner is calling for an audit of European public funds, specifically the NextGeneration Fund of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan of the European Union, amounting to over 1.4 million euros. The request stems from the group's unsuccessful efforts over the past year to obtain invoices justifying the work carried out by a company contracted by the City Council of Rivas Vaciamadrid and tasked with installing new lanes for bicycles and personal mobility vehicles, separated from road and pedestrian traffic by the end of 2022. The petitioner alleges that the construction does not meet European standards for NextGeneration funds, and the City Council of Rivas Vaciamadrid has refused to provide the requested information. Additionally, the petitioner calls for an investigation into the need for the project, expressing concerns about it being a waste of public funds. She also urges the European Parliament to assess the impact of the bike lanes on the city, highlighting disruptions to daily mobility, increased travel times, and a decline in residents' quality of life.
The petitioner is calling for the Council to be more transparent and accountable in its decision-making and contacts with lobbyists, in order to win back the trust of the EU citizens. In particular, the petitioner aims at measures to achieve transparency in the decision-making within the Council, including in its preparatory committees, to make inter-institutional meetings such as trilogues transparent and to include the Council in the EU Transparency Register and make it obligatory.
The petitioner calls for the EU to act to make pricing of cross-border payments more transparent. She understands that one of the objectives of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2) and the Regulation on cross-border payments (CBPR2) is for consumers to have a better understanding of the fees they are charged for cross-border payments, especially into other currencies, and to prohibit non-transparent pricing methods. To that end, the regulation requires providers to notify customers of ‘any currency conversion charges’ before a cross-border bank transfer is made. However, several years after the regulation came into force, providers – in particular banks – continue to hide fees from consumers by using inflated exchange rates on the basis of certain loopholes in Article 5 of CBPR2. The petitioner also believes there has been a lack of enforcement throughout the EU due to a lack of clarity of CBPR2 itself and the refinancing initially granted to national competent authorities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. She believes that the first thing users take into account when making a cross-border payment is the average market exchange rate, which is provided by independent sources such as Reuters or Bloomberg. However, banks deliberately offer an exchange rate that is much worse than the average market rate, pocketing the difference between the two and not informing customers about this additional charge. She estimates that Europeans lose EUR 12.5 billion in hidden fees every year when making cross-border payments. She also explains that most EU banks are not fully transparent with their customers and hide such fees in a number of different ways: from not giving any information about the exchange rate or giving their own exchange rate as the ‘real’ exchange rate to hiding all information about fees. For these reasons, she calls for mandatory requirements to be laid down in legislation to provide advance information on the total cost of a planned transaction, including all charges and exchange rate margins. She also calls for a specific average exchange rate provided by neutral actors or the European Central Bank rate to be used as a reference. This would allow consumers to accurately compare suppliers and understand the real cost of their transaction and would be consistent with international efforts, such as the transparency objectives of the G20 roadmap to improve cross-border payments or the UN action plan on remittances, and by the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
The petitioners are seeking recognition of their compensation claim against Thomas Cook/Condor for the serious flight delay they suffered. They complain about non-performance of a paid-for contractual service and non-compliance with transparency requirements despite receiving Commission’s approved state aid.
The petitioner calls on the European Union to adopt a regulatory framework aiming at unlocking the potentials of stablecoins and at banning cryptocurrency scams. The petitioner claims that such a framework would be essential to protect consumers and enhance the transparency of financial sectors.
Τhe petitioner has been hired to work as a PhD researcher in a project on aquaculture, funded by the EU. She claims that the sound financial management, equal treatment and transparency rules are not properly implemented in this project, entitled ‘EATFISH’ (a Marie Skłodowska–Curie Innovative Training Network).
The petitioner complains that there is no independent contact point for European legislation where it is possible to obtain or upload documents or acquire information. He would like to see transparency in the processing of requests. He makes several additional remarks on the responsibilities of the various institutions (European Parliament, EU Ombudsman, Bundestag).
The petitioner points out that the judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) cannot cast individual votes in the judgments handed down by the Court. He takes the view that this runs counter to the democratic principle of transparency, which is fundamental to the European Union. The petitioner takes the view that the CJEU should not be allowed to ignore the principle of transparency. He points out that disagreement among judges is justified when the purpose of the ruling is to resolve a difficult issue or one relating to the way in which the law should be applied in future. In other contexts, acknowledgement of individual votes cast has been used to trace the development of case-law, without undermining the powers, including the power of enforcement, that are inherent in the pronouncement of a validly adopted judgment.
The petitioner complains about the lack of transparency and information available on the port expansion works in Agaete and the absence of the compulsory updated environmental impact assessment. According to the petitioner, appropriate compensatory measures have not been proposed, nor has the impact on the marine ecosystem been assessed. The project has been funded using 85% FEDER funds.
The petitioner considers that a lack of information and even the possible dissemination of false, misleading or inaccurate information by both Member State bodies and the European Union became evident during the health crisis caused by COVID-19. The petitioner points out that GRECO (Group of States against Corruption) required ‘transparency’ from the central, regional and local governments of the Member States, in order to prevent corrupt practices in the management of the health crisis. The petitioner considers that there is reason to doubt whether there has been due transparency and due diligence in cases such as Spain. In the petitioner’s view, there have been countless inconsistencies, inaccuracies, potentially misleading information and even omission of information. The petitioner calls for the implementation of measures to ensure the proper handling of information, in order to ensure compliance with both EU and national legislation in this area and respect for citizens’ rights.
The petitioner strongly criticizes the process of admission to the magistracy in Romania, arguing that it is in breach of Romanian law and recommendations and resolutions issued by the Council of Europe and the United Nations. He considers that the interview for admission to the magistracy lacks transparency and accountability and that it should not be carried out by attorneys.
The petitioner denounces Spain’s failure to comply with Article 2(3)(b) of the Agreement between the European Union and the United States of America for cooperation in higher education and vocational education and training, which aims to: ‘(b) improve the quality of transatlantic student mobility by promoting transparency, mutual recognition of qualifications and periods of study and training, and, where appropriate, portability of credits’.
The petitioner complains about the fact that the Spanish government has allegedly no will to provide transparency on the investigation concerning the terrorist attack in the Rambla of Barcelona and that the Spanish government apparently knew the plans of the Islamists and did nothing to avoid them. The petitioner requests that a full investigation have to be initiated in the EP on the Spanish security forces.
The petitioner reports that the administration of the Municipal Council of Sallent is infringing rights of access to public information and that this is making trade union work difficult. He states that a complaint has been lodged with the Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT) and that it has agreed with them on other occasions when the Municipal Council has not complied with the Transparency Act.
The petitioner states that the right to freedom of opinion is being systematically violated during the COVID-19 period, with statements based on official figures, analyses and scientific publications not published or negated. He adds that the media also block any information, which does not correspond to official guidelines, so that it is time there was transparency in decision-making in order to prevent adherence to conspiracy theories and social polarisation.
The petitioner draws the attention of the Parliament to alleged disinformation campaigns targeting the EU and its Member States and forwards an investigation by an organisation called “EU Disinfo Lab” which claims that Indian news agency “ANI” quoted sources that do not exist and pursues disinformation campaign aimed at defaming Pakistan. The petitioner also claims that two organisations registered in the EU Transparency Register violate the EU code of conduct.
The petitioner expresses his concern about significant price differences of medicines across the EU member states. In his opinion, the highly regulated medicines market has led to an opaque pricing system not corresponding to free market conditions, and as a result, consumers within the EU have limited access to pharmaceuticals at lower prices available in other countries, either direct or via their health care system like prescriptions at pharmacies, or purchasing cross boarder over-the-counter products.The petitioner considers that there is no reason for this limitation. He suggests that the lack of transparency in price setting within each country allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to set prices without adequate justification or oversight. This not only hinders market competition but also places an unnecessary burden on consumers forced to bear high costs for essential medications. He calls on the European Parliament to take action to reduce pharmaceutical costs and ensure fair access for all consumers by taking following measures: enhance transparency, facilitate cross-border access, foster competition, support research and development and pharmaceutical agents need to be approved by the EMA.
The petitioner calls for the scope of general terms and conditions and data protection rules applicable to online contracts to be limited to a statutory minimum. He maintains that consumers frequently confirm acceptance of general terms and conditions and data protection rules without having actually read them. Limiting content to an agreed essential minimum would help ensure the necessary transparency and prevent people being deprived of their rights by lengthy and frequently impenetrable text.
The petitioner criticises the choice of the names given to the Council of the European Union and the European Council. In his opinion, those names are too similar and therefore create confusion in the minds of the general public as to the roles and competences of the institutions concerned. In order to improve transparency and the proximity of the Union institutions to its citizens, the petitioner calls for these names to be changed.
The petitioner would like to see a mandatory identification of the allergens maize and soya on food labels. She explains that there are consumers who have allergic reactions even to trace amounts of these foods and therefore cannot consume them. However, she maintains that there is a lack of transparency on packaging and that finding out if these allergens are present requires a great deal of time. The petitioner considers that products, medicines, etc. should be labelled accordingly.
The petitioner expresses concern at alleged discrimination regarding start-up companies entered on the ‘Elevate Greece’ register and at possible resulting infringements of European Union competition law. He takes the view that discrimination on the part of public services or undertakings is inadmissible, especially if they are responsible for administering EU funds and if their actions affect free competition. He accordingly asks the Committee on Petitions to verify the transparency of the criteria used to approve or reject all companies seeking to register.
The petitioner asks the European Parliament to establish an investigative commission to review the extent to which the exceptional measures taken by the governments of member states in the context of the health crisis have affected the fundamental rights of European citizens. He claims that the measures were disproportionate and no effective methods of dealing with the health crisis and that the lack of transparency and organisation on EU level would jeopardise democracies and legal systems. The resulting national debt and unemployment would also affect future generations.
The petitioner is complaining about a regression in the exercise of the fundamental rights of Spanish citizens during the state of alarm decreed by the Government, because of Covid-19. He criticise the limitations on the right to free movement, with the strict confinement of citizens in their homes and a series of unjustified decisions that affect the transparency and good governance regulations in force within the Union and its Member States. The Spanish executive has decreed the closure of the Transparency Portal, which makes it difficult to control and understand the actions it is carrying out and be informed on the evolution of the health crisis In addition, the activity of the democratic parliamentary control of the Government has been severely limited, with only one session of control of the executive. The press has been limited: in the press conferences of the Prime Minister, the questions were censored by limiting them and condition them to the prior assessment process by the Secretary of State for Information. This unexpected limitation is contrary to the state of liberties in force in Spain, incompatible with article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and article 3 of the Treaty on European Union.
The petitioner claims that the energy crisis in Europe has led to high costs, especially of gas and flights. He argues that the customers are not able to influence the volatile prices of gas as profitable companies undermine the discussion. The petitioner claims that there are existing laws that oblige the trader to inform the customer about the speculative mechanisms related to the matter and that there should be an implementation of either a ban of the practice of high costs not linked to variability or a rule of full transparency of companies’ mechanisms.
The petitioner is complaining about the lack of transparency and information available on the port expansion works in Agaete and the absence of the required up-to-date environmental impact assessment. According to the petitioner, no appropriate compensatory measures have been proposed nor has the impact on the marine ecosystem, which will change radically following the port expansion works, been assessed. The project is 85% funded with ERDF funds. The petitioner is asking for the funding of the project be reviewed for failure to comply with EU directives, and for the project be suspended.
The petitioner is of the view that the rights of citizens are infringed by the emergency and lock down measures issued by governments in the context of the COVID-19. He in particular refers to the right of free movement, for which he considers the restrictions are abusive, and he claims the communication between authorities and citizens lacks transparency, leaving citizens feel unprotected and left without answers to their questions. The petitioner addresses the European Parliament because of all these facts and he claims that citizens do not back these emergency measures, enforced by fines.
The petitioner expresses concerns about the current Spanish government's alleged continuous violation of citizens' rights, including equality, freedom of expression, and communication. She is particularly worried about the government's disregard for democratic decisions and its willingness to form alliances, even with controversial parties like EH Bildu. The petitioner emphasizes the importance of respecting electoral outcomes and ensuring transparency and accountability in governance. She expresses disappointment with the lack of independence in institutions such as the Ombudsman and calls for adherence to the constitution and protection of citizens' rights in Spain.
The petitioner demands that a common standard should be developed for power storage systems for domestic use and that the producers should be obliged to provide data enabling comparison of different systems available on the market. The petitioner argues that only a few producers have provided or agreed to publish data needed to compare solar energy storage systems as part of a study conducted by the HTW Berlin (University of Applied Sciences). Furthermore, data sheets of decentralised power storage systems are generally hardly standardised. This lack of transparency is not in the interests of consumer protection.
The petitioner is calling for an investigation into the loan granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to Greenalia Biomass Power Curtis-Teixeiro S. L.U. for its biomass plant in Curtis. He complains at lack of transparency in the project and considers that it promotes a model of intensive logging based on the production of lumber with little added value from plantations of trees such as eucalyptus. He points out that there is increasing opposition from society to power generation from forest biomass as a result of its harmful effects on the biodiversity of the Galician mountains and CO2 emissions.
The petitioner asks for the permit to reconstruct the KlaipėdaMusical Theatre to be revoked, as citizens have big concerns as to the impact of this project on the environment (many old trees will be cut) and the historical value of the city centre. The petitioner claims a community home would be the preferred option for the inhabitants. The petitioner contests the choice of location for the musical theatre, and names another location near the waterfront, as apparently was initially intended. The petitioner further highlights the lack of transparency of the project and questions the origin of its funding.
The petitioner denounces the fact that more than 100 million sharks are caught each year across the world and that the Member States of the European Union play a leading role in the market for shark meat. The petitioner notes that, as predators, sharks maintain the balance in the oceans’ ecosystems. The decline in their population as a result of the huge numbers caught could have devastating consequences for the oceans. The petitioner calls for a ban on the fishing and sale of shark, and for complete transparency in the information provided to consumers as regards the nature of fish sold.
According to the petitioner, in November 2022, the Hungarian subsidiary of the Chinese company CATL submitted to the Government Office of Hajdú-Bihar County the application for a consolidated environmental impact assessment of its battery plant to be built in Debrecen. The petitioner claims that the obligations arising from the Aarhus Convention were not respected, as the environmental decision-making process lacked information transparency and public participation from the outset. Moreover, the petitioner states that Debrecen’s conditions are not suitable for battery production, as the groundwater level has allegedly been continuously decreasing since the 1960s, and a water-intensive industry risks accelerating the drying up of the city.
The petitioner draws attention to the social security legislation of Member States under Regulation (EC) No 987/2009. In connection with Articles 47 and 41(1) and (2) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and with due regard for data protection and the rule of law and the requirement of transparency, he calls for provision to be made for the rights under Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 to be granted to persons covered by the Regulation. Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 should therefore be supplemented as soon as possible, possibly by means of a general clause, or the necessary clarifications made in a comprehensive manner.
The petitioner expresses deep concern about the persistent gender pay gap in the European Union. Despite progress, she sees the wage disparity as a major obstacle to a just society and sustainable economic development. She urges the EU to take immediate action and proposes initiatives such as reviewing and strengthening legislation, promoting salary transparency, encouraging equality in decision-making roles, initiating educational campaigns, integrate gender equality education into school curricula to address stereotypes from an early age and supporting work-life balance policies. The petitioner believes that these measures could significantly contribute to closing the gender pay gap and fostering a more just and egalitarian society.
The petitioner is a senior research scientist in Hungary and director of an innovation focussed start-up in Romania. He is complaining about a call made by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology, in particular the InnoStars RIS Local Innovation call 2019, as it was not made public neither on the homepage of the Agency, nor on the homepages of the Romanian and Hungarian Agency’s HUBs. The petitioner knew about the call coincidently: it seems to have been shared only among friends. The petitioner further received contradictory information on the eligibility of Romania to the call. He also comments on the non-transparency of the Romanian hub, having no reliable address advertised.
The petitioner calls, on behalf of a community of employees and employers who wish for pay transparency to be the norm in the workplace, for the obligation to disclose salary ranges in job postings. The petitioner insists that this measure is essential for providing fair treatment in recruitment and the workplace in general and explains that No Fluff Jobs applies it in its daily operations as one of the top job boards in Central and Eastern Europe. She alleges that since the very beginning in 2014, No Fluff Jobs has required publishing job advertisements including salary ranges and aimed at improving the recruitment standards in Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
The petitioner claims that the Greek authorities are refusing to issue an invalidity certificate for her son, who at the age of 5 months was diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy of the right spastic hemiplegia type. She says that the result of this stance is that her son has been deprived of benefits for years, and of the right to access higher education. In addition, she says there is an issue concerning his exemption from military service. She states that she has approached ministries, the Ombudsman and the National Transparency Authority, to no avail. Finally, she calls for help so that persons with disabilities are not deprived of basic rights in life.
The petitioner draws attention to nature conservation infringements in the Llobregat Delta and requests information on infringement procedure INFR (2020) 4133. He requests full and official access to the text sent by the Commission to Spain, and to all documentation forming part of the file, as he states that he represents people affected by the possible extension of the protected area. He calls for transparency in the procedure and asks for the relevant dossier documents. He says that the part of the Llobregat Delta that is currently protected is not being managed properly by the competent public body and that the planned extension of its surface area would, rather than rectifying the infringement, actually compound the damage caused by the management failures.
The petitioner denounces the alleged dictatorial tyranny of the head of the Spanish government and the plans to adopt laws, such as a new Amnesty Law, to pardon fugitives pursued by the Spanish justice and individuals awaiting trial. She claims that the government intends to cancel part of the debt of the Catalan autonomous community, which allegedly misused public funds, benefiting only Catalonia and burdening the rest of the country. The petitioner claims that the President, supported by independentists, terrorist groups and pro-Putin and Republican political parties, is governing undemocratically. She denounces the government’s lack of accountability and transparency, its alleged support for certain regions at the expense of others, and its misuse of European and Spanish funds. The petitioner therefore calls for EU intervention.
The petitioner accuses the Principality of Liechtenstein of continuously violating his human rights. He refers to a series of legal actions, which he took against the Principality of Liechtenstein before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). More specifically, the petitioner reports that by arbitrarily interpreting the decisions delivered by the ECtHR, the Principality of Liechtenstein is in breach of Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which obliges the Contracting Parties to abide by the final judgment of the ECtHR in any case to which they are parties. Moreover, the petitioner accuses the Lichtenstein of violating its international obligations of insuring financial transparency and fighting against money laundering. The petitioner, therefore, calls on the EU institutions to effectively protect the EU internal market and its citizens.
The petitioner claims that the Italian law on detecting and punishing the professional misconduct of lawyers is in breach of EU legislation. He complains that the District Disciplinary Councils and the Consiglio Nazionale Forense (National Bar Council) are not made up of ordinary judges but exclusively of lawyers, who perform a judicial function and are therefore comparable to special judges. He questions the way in which the members of these bodies are selected, their objectivity in decision-making, their lack of impartiality in making judgments and the lack of transparency in their deliberations.The petitioner alleges he was subject to wrongful and vexatious treatment by the District Disciplinary Council of his province and denounces unlawful decisions to the benefit of his colleagues and surprising dismissals of his complaints about unlawful acts committed by his colleagues.
The petitioner informs about the situation of permanent pollution and bad air quality that affect the citizens in a municipality in Romania, and mentions illegal burning activities. He claims that the municipality in question is hiding the sources of pollution, by removing air quality sensors in the most polluted area of the city. He considers that the Romanian authorities infringe the transparency principle and do not commit with EU law in the area of environmental protection and the fight against air pollution. In this context, the petitioner urges the European Commission to impose severe sanctions to Romania for non-respect of air quality and non-respect of EU law related to air pollution and to suspend the Romania’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds for non-respect of Romania’s commitment under the PNNR chapters related to air quality and environment.
The petitioner claims that there are serious issues over press freedom in Greece: interference in the media and with journalists, criminalisation of ‘news’ after the Hellenic Parliament adopted a controversial amendment to an article of the Criminal Code on the dissemination of false news, state interference, stifling control of the state media and lack of transparency in state advertising. The petitioner stresses that in the Reporters Without Borders 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Greece is in 70th place, down five places from 2020. The petitioner alleges that the systemic crisis affecting press freedom in Greece has been exacerbated by the government’s efforts to ‘control the message’ and silence critical and dissenting voices. Finally, the petitioner calls on the European Parliament to condemn Greece’s attitude and take action to restore democracy in Greece, within the framework of its responsibilities.
The petitioner complains about the Italian Government’s alleged misapplication of Directive 2014/52/EU with regard to the public debate procedure. According to the petitioner, with a view to speeding up authorisation procedures, the Italian Government has drastically shortened the time frame for public consultations, not leaving small public authorities (PAs and municipalities) and associations sufficient time to examine the material and submit comments. If that is the case, it would be a breach of the principle of transparency and the public would not be able to participate effectively in the debate – a state of affairs at odds with Article 36 of the aforementioned directive. The petitioner therefore calls on the EU institutions to take action to restore the time frame for public assessment and comments and to protect the rights provided for in Directive 2014/52/EU.
The petitioner requests that the EU institutions assess and investigate on food prices across the EU, and asks for action against unfair business and food pricing practices. The petitioner founds his petition on his observation of the food pricing in Croatia, where, according to him, agri-food enterprises, traders, suppliers and retailers have overpriced food for many years. The petitioner says that the transition to the Euro allowed for greater transparency in the food system as well as for a comparison with prices in other Member States. According to the petitioner some food prices are up to 80-90% cheaper in some EU Member States and the supply chain costs cannot be justified in many cases. The petitioner considers it unjustified that consumers should pay high price in a Member State for the same product, without taking into account the minimum wage differentials.
The petitioner requests an amendment to EU law in order to extend the list of entities that may be involved in administrative proceedings for projects that may always have significant effects on the environment. He claims that in the case of the Pakosc municipality, the transparency of the decision-making process and communication with citizens on projects with an impact on the environment was insufficient, partly due to an incorrect determination of the number of parties to the environmental permit procedure. The petitioner suggests that Citizens’ Committees should be included as parties in proceedings that directly concern them, and that the Polish legislation should provide an obligation of enhanced informative process, which would provide residents of municipalities with up-to-date information through new channels, such as official websites of particular administrative entities, social networks and the media.
The petitioner explains that the Government of Romania approved four sectoral strategies in the field of education for the period 2015 - 2020, which allegedly have not reached the established output indicators. He also states that the Ministry of Education does not have data on the amounts spent for their implementation. He then refers to a reform Romania has committed to in the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, namely the enhancement of the efficiency of public spending, by increasing the transparency of the budget process, which has as one of its milestones the completion of the spending review in health and education sectors. He concludes by asking the European Union to analyse the way the Ministry of Education allocated the national and EU financial resources, as well as whether the output indicators reflect the objectives of the original strategy.
The petitioner asks the European Parliament to amend Article 97 of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) in order to ensure that all independent data protection authorities of the Member States produce an annual report listing all cases dealt with. How the data protection authority took action should also be reported. In the petitioner’s view, the reports could be sent to the European Commission and, once made anonymous, made available to Parliament or to the public. The petitioner seeks greater transparency in the activities of data protection authorities in the EU, since, according to the petitioner, there is currently no political oversight of these authorities. The petitioner complains that, in Germany, data protection authorities rarely take action. He cites the inaction of the data protection authority of the Federal State of Hesse as a specific example.
The petitioner complains that the COVID measures introduced by the Greek Government are very severe as they restrict the personal freedoms and rights enshrined in the Greek Constitution and recognized in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). He further complains about the lack of transparency on the part of the Greek government, which deprives citizens of access to the minutes of the meetings of the technical and scientific committee responsible for the drawing up of government guidelines on the protection of public health. He considers that the COVID-19 measures violate the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In his view, the combination of closed shops, traffic ban (especially after 21.00), obligatory SMS for travel, providing necessary documents to be able to leave homes, bans on prayer in churches, ban on fishing and hunting, and similar measures rank Greece as essentially a dictatorial regime.
The petitioner, who runs a micro-enterprise with under 20 employees, queries the EU institutions with regard to beneficiaries and financing arrangements for EIB financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (of an intermediate size, similar to hers). Despite meeting requirements, her innovative cosmetics and pharmaceutical company (which produces shea butter in the traditional way) has, according to the petitioner, repeatedly been refused access to financing by the intermediary credit institutions (BPI France and Banque Postale). The petitioner complains in particular that financing is not granted by the EIB in the form of direct loans to beneficiaries, but rather through project procurement procedures, with a too broad margin for discretion in the choice of beneficiaries. In the petitioner’s case, the petitioner claims that her company stood to receive financing for innovation, totalling EUR 21 000 through financial intermediaries, but the arrangements applicable to the guarantees provided by the BPI lacked transparency.
The petitioner reports alleged misconduct, lack of transparency, and potentially fraudulent behaviour by the online platform booking.com. He states that since June 2023 he has not received payouts for three properties listed on the platform, despite assurances and guaranteed payment dates. He suggests deliberate deception, detailing behaviour such as the platform requiring updates to the petitioner’s banking information, despite such information having already been provided, sending an invoice that was issued and subsequently deleted, and lack of response to his inquires. Additionally, he attaches several news articles concerning investigations into booking.com on similar issues and his witness statement regarding his situation. The petitioner calls for a thorough investigation into these allegations, to ensure that online platforms operating within the European Union adhere to fair business practices, transparent communication, and proper customer support in order to protect the rights and interests of entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The petitioner draws attention on the need for accountability and transparency in the management of EU Funds in Hungary, with a view to preventing any misallocation or misuse of taxpayers' money in the framework of an allegedly “brother-capitalist/communist” regime. The petitioner makes reference in particular to the so-called “super-milestones” to be achieved in the Hungarian Recovery and Resilience Plan, along with other measures to be implemented in order to unblock the EU funding for Hungary. He therefore asks for including in the “super-milestones”, as well as in the Country-specific recommendations, the requirement to elect the Head of the Integrity Authority (newly established body responsible for investigating the use of EU Funds), by universal suffrage, in order for the institution to be responsible to the Hungarian people and be able to ensure a robust supervision of the EU budget.
The petitioner contends that the right to data protection is not being protected in certain Member States during the electoral processes. The petitioner deplores the profiling of voter’s personal data for electoral advantage. While EU Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Commission guidance on the application of Union data protection law in the context of elections has helped, data concerning political beliefs can be inferred from behavioural data that can be processed without the explicit consent required by Article 9 GDPR. The petitioner proposes setting minimum standards to prevent the communication of personal data contained in public registers to political parties in the context of political and electoral campaigns. Citizens should have to opt-in for their data to be used. The petitioner also calls for enforcing the GDPR so that the processing of data from which special categories of personal data can be inferred is truly safeguarded, and that transparency obligations are reinforced.
The petitioner expresses his dissatisfaction with the restrictive measures taken by the autonomous government of the Balearic Islands (Spain) as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, considering that they undermine the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Spanish Constitution. Based on Article 55 of the Constitution and on Article 11 of Organic Law 4/1981 he considers that the declaration of the state of alert does not cover such restrictions as would be the case with the declaration of the state of emergency or the declaration of the state of siege. He stresses that the measures adopted are not of a sanitary nature as it would correspond to the situation created, but that they are political and electoral measures.He also calls for greater transparency on budgetary spending, on the vaccination strategy and on the management of European funds to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, as well as for incentive measures for the economy and tourism sector of the Balearic Islands.
The petitioner complains that the 2020 presidential election in Belarus was conducted in breach of the democratic principles, in violation of the established procedural rules and of the principle of transparency. The petitioner alleges that the District Electoral Committees committed electoral fraud by swapping votes cast for the opposition candidates in favour of Mr. Lukashenko. The petitioner further highlights that many citizens and representatives of different sectors of the economy have called for the annulment of the election results and for the dissolution of the government. The petitioner requests the European Parliament not to recognise the election results, to deny Mr. Lukashenko the status of the president-elect and to impose sanctions and to ensure that the responsible high-ranking officials and their families are held accountable, including members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the electoral committees, the local governments, the prosecution and investigation offices, the judiciary and the state media.
The petitioner is concerned about the indefinite postponement of the implementation of key elements of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, including penalties for market participants, specifically market makers and broker-dealers, who fail to deliver shares, margin calls, and mandatory buy-in rules. The petitioner - who is a retail shareholder - argues that the lack of efficient enforcement of settlement rules exposes investors, particularly retail investors, to an asymmetric risk, namely the devaluation of their investments. The petitioner raises that the circulation of not yet delivered synthetic shares dilute the number of tradeable shares and causes a supply-demand imbalance. Failure-to-deliver leads to massive price suppression and destroys the value of the corresponding investments. The lack of enforcement of the settlement rules jeopardizes the transparency and stability of the stock market, and therefore the petitioner requests the full enforcement of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014, calling upon the ECB, the ESMA, and the EC to protect shareholders’ rights.
The petitioner reports on the very serious crisis in the public transport service and in mobility in the municipality of Rome, highlighting the impossible access to underground railway stations for people with disabilities, the ongoing delays and cancellations of suburban trains and buses, poor vehicle safety, the chaotic parking of electric vehicles (bikes and scooters), with no dedicated routes or shelters, and numerous statements by the judiciary clarifying the situation as regards the many vehicle fires caused by inadequate maintenance and consequently their dangerous condition. The allegedly poor transparency of the methods and tools used to determine user satisfaction and approval of the municipality of Rome’s public transport service is also highlighted. It is therefore proposed that a high-profile independent commission should be set up to assess the state of the public transport service and its actual approval rating and to put forward appropriate solutions to resolve the city’s alleged mobility problems.
The petitioner complains that Directive 1999/70/EC is infringed by Spanish Law 20/2021 of 28 December 2021 on Urgent measures to reduce fixed-term contracts in the public sector. Law 20/2021 allegedly fails to transpose the provisions of Directive 1999/70/EC to the public sector and directly contradicts the principles of equality, merit, capacity and transparency for access to the civil service, obstructing the right of citizens to obtain a post in the civil service on equal terms and in line with the constitutional principles. It allegedly also breaches the rights of all Spanish career civil servants to take part on equal terms in competitive exams for transfers or internal promotion in their respective posts. The petitioner claims that Law 20/2021 does not resolve the serious problem of fixed-term contracts: abuse of this system will continue and the percentage rates for temporary contracts will not fall.
With regard to the construction of the Campogalliano-Sassuolo motorway link road, the petitioners point out that, in addition to disregarding the environmental sustainability of the proposed route, the project is based on a range of incorrect assessments. In a nutshell, the petitioners contest the right of the regional authorities to decide without due transparency of information and in breach of EU environmental and health protection legislation. The petitioners have already proposed to the state, regional and local authorities a number of alternative road and rail options with the aim of rationalising passenger and freight traffic as well as reducing pollution and improving road safety. The petitioners are calling on the EU institutions to ask the authorities responsible to carry out a review and to update the report of the Environmental Impact Assessment, approved on 12 January 2004), while suspending the definite project plan and, in any case, postponing the start of the works (scheduled for spring 2020).
The petitioner explains that together with a large group of professionals, mainly working in the Triple Bottom Line Sustainability field from Spain and the Canary Islands, she submitted over an year ago, a proposal for a Public Private Transformative Partnership to the competent authorities, with a view to promote a balanced and prosperous economic, social and environmental system for the Canarias. She stresses that although the proposal complies with the requirements of the current legislative framework, including as regards transparency in the management and administration of the funds and is aligned with the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the “CANARIAS REACTIVA” programme and the 2030 urban and rural, national and Canarian Agenda, they still haven’t received any clear response from the Government of the Canary Islands, conductive to establishing a productive dialogue. She therefore asks for guidance on how to proceed in order for the competent authorities to address the proposal submitted to them in an official, effective and urgent manner.
The petitioner explains that every online software application uses an Application Programming Interface (API) for transferring user-related data from a server. However, the data is in most cases not accessible, unless an API is exposed and its description is provided by the application owner/creator. As an extension to GDPR and the data transparency laws, every software application that stores data about its users regarding, should provide at all times a secure means of accessing the data in a read-only way through a publicly-available API. Since the world is heavily transitioning to online these days, data accessibility regulations should be adapted in such a way that every user could access all the data a third party stores about them on demand, without notice, through an API that implements the relevant security measures. The accessibility of data would allow for faster, easier cross-organizational communication between any interested parties and would allow, in the future, for easier development of new software services or solutions through third party data aggregation.
The petitioner is expressing strong opposition to the functioning and construction of incinerators with or without waste-to-energy plants within the European Union, alleging risks to public safety, health, the environment, and sustainable waste management practices, which she develops in detail. She also thinks that the EU should shift towards cleaner and more efficient ways to generate energy, without the harmful emissions and negative impacts associated with incineration. In this context she is asking for the following: an immediate moratorium on the construction of new incinerators within the European Union and a comprehensive review of existing incinerators, a transition plan to gradual phase-out the existing incinerators and promote the transition to more sustainable waste management practices, investment in sustainable alternatives, such as waste reduction, recycling, composting, and innovative waste management technologies, strengthening the waste policies at EU level with a focus on waste prevention, extended producer responsibility, and the promotion of a circular economy, as well as for ensuring public participation and transparency in decision-making processes related to waste management.
The petition refers to Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices, recital 64 of which states that ‘the rules on clinical investigations should be in line with well-established international guidance in this field, such as the international standard ISO 14155:2011’, and Article 106 of which states that ‘expert laboratories shall satisfy the following criteria: … (c) have the necessary knowledge of international standards and best practices … ’. The petitioner notes that the text of the international standard ISO 14155:2011 (now ISO 14155:2020) is not available to European citizens free of charge but at the price of CHF 198, i.e. EUR 203. He considers that, given the legal scope of the reference to an ISO standard in EU legislation, all European citizens should be able to access that standard’s text easily and free of charge. He notes that the impossibility of accessing the text of the standard in question conflicts with the principle of transparency espoused by the EU, and believes that a change would give Europeans a form of democratic control.
The petitioner draws attention to the Akamas peninsula, allegedly the most biodiverse area in Cyprus and one of the few remaining natural areas under the effective control of the Republic of Cyprus. She claims that the area has been facing pressures and threats on important habitats and endangered species listed in the annexes of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) and the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) for decades. She adds that no effective and legally binding measures are yet in place to protect it, and the most recent government plans are expected to have devastating effects on the ecosystem, within a general context of incapacitated institutions, legislation gaps, inefficient governance and lack of transparency, in violation of EU legislation and fundamental rights (the right to environmental protection, the right to property and the right to good administration). She highlights that the actual texts of the draft local measures that will regulate zoning and development in the area were not available to the public. Therefore, she asks the European Parliament to do everything in its power to defend such a unique area of European significance.
The petitioner complains about the measures taken by the Italian Government to counter the spread of the COVID-19 virus, saying they restrict personal freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Italian Constitution and recognised in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The petitioner points out that these measures were adopted through prime ministerial decrees as provided for in the civil defence code. However, the latter does not envisage health emergencies as a ground for declaring a state of emergency. Furthermore, the petitioner deplores an alleged lack of transparency by the Italian government, which would deny citizens access to the minutes of meetings of the technical-scientific committee set up at the prime minister’s office to offer the government guidelines on public health protection. Lastly, the petitioner criticises the constant scaremongering by the mass media, which could help create a state of anxiety and panic in the population. Fearing that the Italian Republic is drifting towards authoritarianism, contrary to the fundamental values of the European Union, the petitioner asks Parliament to consider whether the procedure provided for in Article 7 TEU to determine whether EU values are being complied with, should be triggered.
The petitioner considers that the European Parliament should investigate the management of the Spanish authorities of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The petitioner considers that, despite the fact that the Government of Spain was aware of the serious situation in China and Italy at the end of January 2020; it did not adopt any political decision that warned Spanish citizens of the risks to public health that could cause the spread of the virus. The petitioner insists that he went so far as to minimize the danger by encouraging, contrary to scientific and international indications, the concentration of people, such as those developed during March 8, 2020, on the International Day of Working Women. The petitioner alleges that information was withheld for ideological and political reasons and party interests rather than guaranteeing the general interest. The petitioner considers that transparency and the right to information of Spanish public opinion in such dramatic circumstances should prevail. The petitioner points out that political and social responsibility must be defined and the European institutions must ensure the health and physical and moral integrity of their citizens.
The petitioner is of the opinion that the President of the Commission’s actions in relation to the purchasing of COVID-19 vaccines breached rules of law, including in particular the Code of Conduct for Members of the European Commission. The petitioner calls for the matter to be brought before the Court of Justice of the EU and for all necessary steps to be taken to lift the privileges and immunities of Ursula von der Leyen. He calls on MEPs to bring the matter before the International Criminal Court and to immediately dismiss the European Commission by passing a motion of censure. Lastly, he calls for a temporary committee of inquiry to be set up to investigate alleged contraventions or maladministration in the implementation of Union law. In support of his claims, the petitioner accuses the President of the Commission of having a lack of independence and of ‘malpractice’ during the contract negotiations with Pfizer, pointing to the links between the President of the Commission, her husband and the Pfizer representative. He criticises the lack of transparency regarding the contract negotiation phase and the lack of access to the contracts’ content. Finally, in his view, all of the restrictive measures which led to discrimination against non-vaccinated persons were imposed without any scientific basis.
The petitioner points out the absence of a long-term toxicity study of a representative formulation when a molecule is authorised as an active substance of a pesticide for pesticides marketed in France and probably in other Member States. The petitioner considers that this failure to carry out an evaluation is contrary to Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 and the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 1 October 2019 and poses a major risk to the health of citizens of the European Union and to European ecosystems. He urgently requests to amend Regulation (EU) No 284/2013 establishing the list of documents requested from applicants for marketing authorisations for pesticides and to include experimental studies on the long-term toxicity of pesticide products. He asks Parliament to call on the Commission to make these amendments to Regulation (EC) No 284/2013, and to audit the pesticides currently authorised to verify their compliance with Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. He asks to use the means at their disposal for Member States to apply Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 on the long-term toxicity assessment of commercial formulations. Finally, he calls on the Parliament to initiate a review of industrial secrecy covering the composition of pesticide products, in order to allow for transparency.
The petitioner strongly criticizes the exceptional measures taken with regard to the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. She claims that, even though at the beginning of the pandemic restrictive measures were necessary, this is not the case anymore. Therefore, she stresses that the current restrictions are not proportionate and thus, the allegedly arbitrary actions of the EU institutions and national governments constitute a serious threat to democracy. The petitioner states that the current measures, such as lockdowns and business closures, violate not only the fundamental rights of the citizens, but also negatively affect the economic development in the EU, which leads to mass unemployment and puts at risk the future evolution of society. To demonstrate the disproportionality of the current measures, the petitioner refers to the definition of ‘’health’’ anchored in the WHO Constitution, which includes not only physical, but also mental health and social well-being. The petitioner also condemns the vaccination policies put in place all cross the EU and the lack of transparency with regard to the work of some EU institutions on Covid-19 related matters. Therefore, she calls on the European Parliament to take a number of measures, such as setting up parliamentary committees to assess national policies in the context of the current pandemic; triggering Article 7 TEU against Member States that violated fundamental rights due to excessive Covid-19 restrictions etc.
The petitioner strongly criticizes the actions of the European institutions with regard to the Covid-19 crisis. She claims that, even though at the beginning of the pandemic restrictive measures were necessary, this is not the case anymore. Therefore, she stresses that the current restrictions are not proportionate and thus, the allegedly arbitrary actions of the EU institutions and national governments constitute a serious threat to democracy. The petitioner states that the measures violate not only the fundamental rights of the citizens, but also negatively affect the economic development in the EU, which leads to mass unemployment and puts at risk the future evolution of society. To demonstrate the disproportionality of the current measures, the petitioner refers to the definition of ‘’health’’ anchored in the WHO Constitution, which includes not only physical, but also mental health and social well-being. The petitioner also condemns the lack of transparency in organising and coordinating the activities of the Member States and the European institutions with regard to the management of the pandemic. Therefore, she calls on the European Parliament to take a number of measures, such as setting up parliamentary committees to assess national policies and emergency measures in the context of the current pandemic; triggering Article 7 TEU against Member States that violated fundamental rights due to excessive Covid-19 restrictions etc.
The petitioner is a Dutch citizen residing in Denmark where he was in temporary employment. After an accident that caused him physical consequences, he could not, as he explains, due to lack of knowledge of the Danish social security system, opt for any aid mechanism in case of incapacity for work and was, after a short period of time, expelled from the working-care mechanism. He explained that he was not summoned for a medical examination to prove his incapacity to work, that the police retained his passport, although he was not expelled because he could not prove his irregular situation in the country, that he appealed to the SOLVIT mechanism but that he did not obtain help, that he is unable to develop his employment before the accident, that he suffers significant consequences and that, due to the concatenation of failures of the social protection system, he is homeless. The petitioner adds that he cannot take legal action because he lacks resources and because the very fact that he has lost his right of residence prevents him from exercising the corresponding actions. He attributed the situation to a willingness of the Danish government to hinder the exercise of rights related to free movement by foreigners, which, in his view, explained the lack of transparency and the difficulty of access to information.
The petitioner calls on the European Parliament to pass a motion of censure in respect of the European Commission, and its President in particular, and to demand, as a result, the immediate resignation of all the Members of the Commission, in accordance with Article 234 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The reasons given by the petitioner concern the negotiation of the purchase of coronavirus vaccines, which, in his opinion, is the main cause of the current disastrous economic and social situation in the European Union, having impoverished the European population and reduced its numbers. In his opinion, this constitutes a series of crimes for which the petitioner holds the Commission President responsible, due to her having conducted the purchase negotiations without adhering to the principles of transparency and also due to her having favoured companies linked to members of her family. He underlines that the purchase was justified by the alleged capacity of the vaccines to prevent the contagion and transmission of the virus, which has subsequently proven to be false. He accuses the Commission President of having bowed to British interests to the detriment of Europe and of having committed various crimes, including fraud, money laundering, corruption, influence peddling, and destruction of evidence, which he believes should be regarded as crimes against humanity and as genocide against the European population.
The petitioner, acting on behalf of the platform for those affected by the photovoltaic parks of the Huerta de Movera (Zaragoza), opposes the installation of such parks in protected areas and calls for them to be stopped immediately in order to ensure the survival of the rural environment. She states that there are 4 parks covering a total of 51 hectares. The petitioner points out that the area stands out for its environmental richness, it being a millennia-old irrigated zone in which there are around 100 dwellings, several dispersed population centres, and other types of establishments, nurseries and livestock farms. The petitioner believes that legislation should be adopted in order to protect these irrigated areas and to set a minimum distance from rural dwellings and population centres for such photovoltaic plants. In her view, photovoltaic parks will have a negative impact on the area, complaining that the current environmental impact reports do not correspond to reality allegedly due to a lack of transparency in management. Similarly, she considers the transformation of rural agricultural, irrigated, protected and productive land into industrial land to be harmful. She also considers that the future viability plans put forward by the administration to justify photovoltaic projects are flawed, because the reuse of materials, dismantling and the restoration of the soil all entail high costs, will generate toxins and will have a high environmental impact.
The petitioner denounces the alleged misuse and mismanagement of EU funds by the European Commission’s EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTFA) programme “Support to Integrated border and migration management in Libya”, launched in July 2017 and funded with a total of €91.3m. In the petitioner’s view, the programme is illegal for its misuse of European development funds for non-developmental objectives such as border control, and inconsistent with the permissible funding objectives for the use of European development funds as provided for in relevant EU financial legislation. Further, she alleges that the use of EU funds in the IBM programme contravenes legal requirements for the proper management of European development funds, including sound financial management principles of effectiveness, efficiency and transparency, and human rights monitoring and conditionality. The petitioner claims that the harmful impact of the programme on the rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees has been compounded in recent months by escalating violence in Tripoli and the spread of Covid-19. The organizations represented by the petitioner submitted a complaint to the European Court of Auditors on 27 April 2020, calling on it to launch an audit into the programme for the misuse of EU funds. The petitioner attaches a statement by a group of thirteen NGOs, released alongside the complaint submission, calling on the EU to review and reform its cooperation with Libya.
The petitioner presents that the thermal coupling factors (Kc) used in the calculation of the heating cost allocation in residential buildings are treated as a “black box”, including by the local energy regulator ANRE, namely they are not publicly available and therefore the calculation made thereon by ISTA (the service provider) have to be taken at face value. Moreover, the Romanian energy regulator, ANRE, deems Kc factors as part of the intellectual property of the service provider and thus confidential. As such, the petitioner alleges that the situation allows billing manipulation by the service providers, an issue that may represent also a violation of directive 2012/27/UE and its updates.The petitioner stresses that regulation imposing full transparency for the operational data of the heat cost allocators (HCA) is needed, not only for the specific case in Romania, but across the entire EU. The petitioner expresses his hopes that EU bodies will not accept the status-quo of the monopoly built thanks to these alleges regulatory shortcomings and due to the lack of operational data for the HCAs. The petitioner considers that the equipment market and the billing service provision must be unbundled if energy savings is sought in the light of the Green Deal. In addition, he calls for a standardised interoperable radio protocol, for remote reading of the HCA indexes as, in his view, this would greatly help consumers to be able to easily switch across service providers.
The petitioner claims that Ireland is in breach of Article 14(4) and Article 30(1) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1012. According to the petitioner, Ireland is mandating arbitration (private process) contrary to the provisions of Article 14(4) of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 and the breed societies do not have coherent grievance procedures. The petitioner further claims that Ireland is dictating that a zootechnical certificate is part of the birth recording for traceability and applying fines for beef breeders while not applying fines for dairy breeders in violation with Article 30 Point 1 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1012, which states that the breeder has to make the request for the certificate (when they decide if the breeding animal is suitable for breeding). Furthermore, the petitioner states that Ireland is dictating that membership is required to a breed society in order to obtain zootechnical certificates and dictating single national breeding programmes for each breed, therefore preventing and distorting competition and hindering economic development, which, according to the petitioner, is in violation of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1012. The petitioner argues, furthermore, that officials of the department of agriculture are also board members of the breed societies and that data protection officers at the breed societies are controlling the decision making on the publication of breeder information and preventing transparency. Finally, the petitioner denounces that abusive fees and fines are applied while the services are provided by the Irish cattle breeding federation.
The petitioner is disputing the rejection of his housing care application by the Administrative Department for General Administration, Property-Legal, and Common Affairs of Šibenik-Knin County. The petitioner, who is of Serbian nationality, was born in Croatia and lived there for the first eight years of his life, applied for housing care under Article 51, Paragraph 2 of the Law on Housing Provision" (Official Gazette No. 106/18, 98/19, 82/23) and the current Regulation on Determining the Status of Former Holders of Tenancy Rights and Members of Their Families, and the Conditions and Procedure for Their Housing Provision (Official Gazette No. 133/13, 106/18). Despite adhering to these laws, his application was rejected as untimely. He argues that his rejection disregarded the provision stating that subordinate legislation remains in force until repealed or replaced. As neither has been done, the subordinate legislation is still in force. The decision-making process, allegedly lacking proper adherence to legal provisions, jeopardizes his rights and subjects him to discrimination based on his national identity as a Croatian citizen of Serbian nationality. He points out that he brought this mistake to the relevant authority's attention, but his complaint was rejected , intentionally denying his rights. He emphasizes the violation of the EU principles of equality and anti-discrimination based on nationality, as well as concerns about transparency in the application of national laws in line with EU standards. He provides for his application for housing arrangement and the decision of the Administrative Department as evidence.
The petitioner argues that the adoption of Royal Decree-Law No 14/2021 on urgent measures to reduce fixed-term contracts in the civil service is infringing fundamental rights. The petitioner takes the view that the draft Law infringes fundamental principles of the Spanish Constitution, such as merit, equality and ability, as set out in Articles 9, 14 and 23(2) of the Constitution, and Article 21(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The petitioner points out that converting temporary employment relationships into permanent relationships is not proportionate to the aims pursued by Clause 5 of the framework agreement, which are to prevent abuse of fixed-term employment contracts, and does not effectively penalise the abuser, namely the authorities. In any case, it is those people who have spent years preparing for the examinations to obtain a civil service position who are actually being harmed by this legislation, including career officials who are trying to get promoted to the positions occupied by temporary staff. In the petitioner’s opinion, the solution would be to issue a notice of vacancy for all filled and vacant positions, which would involve selective examination processes, without any competition based on merits. All citizens could sit these examinations, under the Spanish Constitution principles of equality, merit, ability, publicity, transparency and free competition. However, the petitioner indicates that the response from the Spanish Government has been to adopt Royal Decree-Law No 14/2021 of 6 July 2021, with the aim of making staff permanent, many of whom have never been through a selection process, and without observing the principles of merit, ability and equality, as required by the Spanish Constitution.
In respect of the new Italian Procurement Code, the petitioner is concerned that, as pointed out by ANAC, Italy’s anti-corruption authority, under the new Legislative Decree No 36/2023 approximately 98.7% of public works could potentially be awarded in Italy without an open public call for tender (i.e. 98.7% of direct tenders and calls for tenders). The petitioner considers that setting the European thresholds for contracts at EUR 5.3 million could be abusive and constitute a potential breach of European legislation that was not enacted for the purpose of reducing the number of public tenders in a Member State to practically none. She is concerned about the enormous power that would be placed in the hands of public officials at local and national level who could legally decide, without any oversight, where to allocate public works and public funds, including European funds. The petitioner is concerned about a possible increase in corruption and bribery and a reduction in transparency in the granting of tenders as well as the establishment of barriers to entry, preventing European companies and professionals from participating in a large proportion of Italian public tenders, which would thus be uncompetitive. She emphasises that the new procurement code would not guarantee participation on the basis of gender equality and equal opportunities and would also entail risks for the health and safety of EU workers, as it allows for seven levels of subcontracting posing a serious risk of reducing the quantity of inspections and compromising the effectiveness of oversight. The petitioner therefore calls on the European institutions to intervene to assess the full compliance of the newly approved decree with EU rules.
The petitioner complains that several environmental directives are not respected in Denmark, in particular the Nitrates Directive, the Water Framework Directive, and the Habitats Directive. They claim that the "Food and Agriculture Package" led to significantly relaxed fertilization rules, long phasing in of relaxed phosphorus rules, as well as voluntary compensatory measures that were either launched too late or have not yet been implemented. The package was implemented on the basis of a nitrogen budget for 2016-21, which was presented as leading to a fall in nitrogen emissions year by year. On the contrary, data suggest that nitrogen emissions have increased since 2016 with detrimental consequences for Natura 2000 sites. The petitioner claims also that far below 1% of the lakes and less than 30% of the river basins in Denmark are protected. This status of the Danish streams and especially lakes in the Danish water management plans can also have significant consequences on whether adequate action is taken against phosphorus pollution from agriculture. The liberalized phosphorus regulations as a result of the abovementioned Package can thus lead to a phosphorus load for countless lakes that are not monitored. Furthermore, the Danish Agriculture Package has been targeted by the Commission in an EU Pilot procedure in 2016. Since then, the petitioners have been allegedly denied access to key related environmental information and the European Commission did not provide any clarification on the status of the Pilot procedure. The petitioner denounces lack of transparency, requesting Parliament to urgently ask the Commission for information on the state of play and the results of the dialogue with Denmark.
The petitioner denounces the gender pay gap which has been decreasing slowly, with only a 2.8% reduction in recent years. She stresses that, currently, for every euro a man earns, a woman earns only 0.87 cents. According to her, this highlights the existence of a gender pay gap equivalent to women working one and a half months without receiving compensation. She welcomes the European Parliament resolution of 30 March 2023 on the proposal for a directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms aimed at strengthening the principle of equal pay between men and women and close the gender pay gap. The petitioner stresses that equality is a value pursued by the European Union since its formation and recalls that Article 157 TFEU mandates Member States to ensure the application of the principle of equal pay for the same or equivalent work. However, she underlines that the reality is not in line with the theory. The petitioner is calling on the European Parliament to create tax incentives for companies to implement gender-neutral pay policies. These incentives would encourage companies to make changes to their salary practices. Additionally, she suggests to control and monitor companies' pay policies, allowing for sanctions against those persisting in gender-based pay disparities. The severity of these sanctions could be proportional to the duration of the gender pay gap within the company. Finally, the petitioner underlines that addressing the gender pay gap requires cooperation among all EU Member States.
The petitioner first describes in detail the events that led to the sinking of the Spanish fishing vessel Villa de Pitanxo. The petitioner requests the European Parliament to ask the European Commission to investigate whether the Spanish authorities are infringing the EU regulations on transparency by hiding information, thus not respecting the right of any person to access the file that affects them; and what is more serious, hindering their right to justice. The petitioner refers to Directive 2009/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 establishing the fundamental principles governing the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector. There, it is stated that Member States, acting within the framework of their respective legal systems, shall ensure that all relevant information to carry out the security investigation is provided to the investigators of their investigation body to which they have delegated the security investigation tasks, if appropriate, in collaboration with the authorities responsible for the judicial investigation, and, consequently, that they are authorized to enjoy free access to any ship, wreck or structure, which includes cargo, equipment or drifting objects. The petitioner also refers to Commission Regulation (EU) No 1286/2011, of 9 December 2011, adopting a common methodology for investigating marine casualties and incidents developed pursuant to Article 5(4) of Directive 2009/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council. The petitioner asks the EU institutions to assess the alleged breaches of EU law and also asks to descend to the sunken wreck since the recording of the state of the ship is key in order to obtain evidence that serves to clarify the causes of the sinking of the Villa de Pitanxo.