A4-0151/95

Resolution on the deliberations of the Committee on Petitions during the parliamentary year 1994-1995

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and especially Articles 8d and 138d of the Treaty establishing the European Community,

-having regard to Rules 156 to 158 of its Rules of Procedure, especially Rule 157(5),

-having regard to its previous resolutions on petitions, particularly that adopted on 3 May 1994 on the basis of the annual report on the deliberations of the Committee on Petitions during the parliamentary year 1993-1994,

-having regard to its resolution of 17 November 1993 and its decision of 9 March 1994 on the regulations and general conditions governing the performance of the Ombudsman's duties,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on Petitions (A4-0151/95),

A.whereas the right to petition the European Parliament has been incorporated in the Treaties as an important aspect of the new Union citizenship and has thus become even more binding in nature,

B.whereas, according to Rule 156 of its Rules of Procedure, third-country nationals legally residing in the European Union have a right to petition the European Parliament,

C.whereas the citizens of the Union and other persons residing in the European Union wish to be more closely involved in the shaping of the Community and it has therefore become even more important for their petitions to be considered quickly and carefully, a process in which all Community bodies and institutions and, if necessary, the Member States must participate,

D.whereas the petitions procedure represents one of the best opportunities for the Community's institutions and bodies to be directly informed about the effect of their regulations, decisions and directives on the lives of Union citizens and other persons residing in the European Union, and whereas this strengthens the control function of the European Parliament in particular,

E.whereas the number of petitions and petitioners again rose sharply and the range of issues raised similarly increased in the period under review, a trend that is likely to accelerate further with the accession of the three new Member States; whereas this constant rise in the number of petitions has recently led to a considerable backlog of work,

F.whereas petitions increasingly reveal serious cases of non-compliance with Community law or complain that in many areas of the Community's activity political announcements are not followed by binding arrangements,

G.whereas the petitions submitted to Parliament, in addition to legal matters concerning - and requiring an answer from - the Commission, often also raise questions of a political nature,

H.whereas the information contained in petitions submitted to Parliament concerning shortcomings in the legal system and specific legal matters relating to the EU is a source of valuable help on specific topics,

I.whereas the EU Treaty has given it the power to take the initiative in legislative matters,

J.whereas the modified structures and the constantly growing number of petitions received necessitate not only new working methods within the Committee on Petitions itself but also a new administrative and working structure for Parliament's relations with the Commission,

K.whereas some petitioners do not have the private means necessary in legal disputes to assert their manifestly justifiable interests in the course of the petitions procedure; whereas national legal aid systems often do not cover international legal disputes,

L.whereas, in the case of some petitions which go into considerable legal detail, neither the Commission nor Parliament's secretariat possess enough expertise and information to clarify the matter,

1.Undertakes, as the only Community institution directly elected by the Union's citizens, to take their complaints seriously and to represent them effectively before the Council and Commission;

2.Instructs its committees and delegations, therefore, to examine carefully petitions forwarded to them by the Committee on Petitions and shortcomings in the legal system and in individual legal acts described in these petitions, and to respond to the concerns expressed therein in their own proposals for the drafting and amendment of legal documents in the course of Parliament's normal legislative work, especially under the cooperation and codecision procedures and, in exceptional cases, by presenting their own legislative proposals to the Commission pursuant to Article 138b of the EC Treaty; in this context, calls on its committees and delegations to report to the Committee on Petitions on such measures and political initiatives taken in response to petitions;

3.Notes that the Treaty on European Union requires the Ombudsman to conduct inquiries into instances of maladministration in the activities of the Community institutions or bodies and that Parliament's Rules of Procedure require the Committee on Petitions to consider petitions on any matter which comes within the Union's fields of activity and concerns the petitioner directly; notes that this is put into practice by declaring admissible any petitions which

-concern the contents of the Treaties and secondary Community law,

-concern matters which, though not directly associated with the letter of individual provisions of Community law, are relevant to the Community's likely development,

-concern the activity of an institution or Community body;

points out that, in accordance with a decision of the Committee on Petitions, the requirement set out in Article 138d of the Treaty that the subject matter affect the petitioner directly is interpreted liberally;

4.Calls on the other Community bodies, especially the Commission, to forward to the Committee on Petitions for its inspection any documents and information not subject to secrecy which may be required for the proper examination of a petition;

5.Thanks the Commission for its cooperation in the past, calls for better and closer cooperation with the Commission in the examination of petitions and requests that any petitions forwarded to it pursuant to Rule 157(3) of Parliament's Rules of Procedure be considered more speedily;

6.Calls on the Commission to monitor very carefully the Member States' compliance with provisions of Community law and to be guided solely by the interests of the Community when initiating proceedings for infringement of the Treaty pursuant to Article 169 of the EC Treaty; reminds the Member States of their obligation to provide the Commission, as the guardian of the Treaties, with comprehensive information without delay on issues raised in petitions;

7.Still believes that petitions are a fundamental civil right and thus an excellent means of reducing the democratic deficit, ensuring greater transparency and gauging public opinion on aspects of current affairs and European policy and, above all, of identifying shortcomings in existing legislation and errors in the application and implementation of Community law;

8.Points out both to its appropriate committees and to the Commission that, as the citizens of the Union and other persons residing in the European Union are particularly concerned about certain issues, the Council, Commission and Parliament need to help ensure that these concerns are covered by appropriate legislative proposals; urges in particular that

-in the future the Commission so apply the environmental compatibility directive currently being revised that the Union's competence in this sphere may be further increased;

-the Commission join with Parliament's Committee on Social Affairs and Employment in considering ways of reducing the considerable disparity of the medical criteria established by the Member States for the approval of an occupational or invalidity pension;

-the Council and Commission show greater determination than hitherto to seize the opportunities created by Title VI of the Treaty on European Union (Provisions on cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs) with a view to closing the gaps in national legislation and intergovernmental agreements that often lead to conflicts, e.g. in law on marriage, civil status and asylum;

-the Council and the Commission step up their efforts and undertake the necessary measures to ensure the free movement of persons;

9.Notes that many petitioners have complained about what they regard as the intolerable conditions obtaining during the transport of domestic animals and animals destined for slaughter, and welcomes the fact that a compromise has been reached in this matter, which has been pending for some considerable time, so that the security of the supply of animals for slaughter to the Union can be ensured in a civilized way and the public shown that the Community is taking account of their reservations;

10.Calls on the Commission and the Committee on Petitions to develop jointly new working methods including in particular a new, speedier procedure for dealing with manifestly groundless or easily resolved petitions; in this context the treatment of different petitions on the same legal question is particularly important; it needs to be considered whether it would be helpful to this end to create a new data-processing system using key-words and references;

11.Stresses that it may be necessary in the case of some complicated legal questions to obtain an independent legal opinion, and calls on the Committee on Budgets in this context to find an appropriate source of funding, considering inter alia whether the Commission might assume the cost of such opinions;

12.Calls on the Committee on Petitions to reconsider the frequency of its meetings and/or to call additional meetings;

13.Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its committee to the Commission and Council, to the governments and parliaments of the Member States, to the parliamentary committees responsible for petitions and to the Ombudsman.