The European
Parliament adopted by 616 votes to 23, with 16 abstentions, a decision on revision
of the Rules of Procedure with regard to the petitions process.
The main
changes approved by MEPs are as follows:
- where a
petition is signed by several persons, the signatories shall designate a
representative and deputy representatives who shall be regarded as the
petitioners for the purposes of implementation of the rules. Where no
such designation has occurred the first signatory or another appropriate
person shall be regarded as the petitioners;
- currently
the Rules of Procedure do not provide for the withdrawal of support for
the petition by the petitioner. With the envisaged change, each
petitioner may at any time withdraw support for the petition. After
withdrawal of support by all the petitioners the petition shall become
null and void;
- petitions
must be written in an official language of the European Union. The
Bureau may decide that petitions and correspondence with petitioners may
be drafted in other languages used in a Member State (such as Basque or
Galician);
- if the
committee responsible fails to reach a consensus on the admissibility or
otherwise of the petition, it shall be declared admissible at the
request of at least one quarter of the members of the committee;
- if a
petition is inadmissible, where possible, alternative means of redress
may be recommended;
- petitions,
once registered, shall as a general rule become public documents, and
the name of the petitioner and the contents of the petition may be
published. However, the petitioner may request that his name be withheld
in order to protect his privacy, in which case Parliament must respect
such a request;
- the
petitioner may request that the petition be treated confidentially, in
which case suitable precautions will be taken by Parliament to ensure
that the contents are not made public;
- petitioners
may be invited to participate in meetings of the committee if their
petition is to be the subject of discussion, or they may request to be
present. The right to speak shall be granted to petitioners at the discretion
of the chair;
- with regard
to an admissible petition, the committee may decide to draw up an
own-initiative report or submit a short motion for a resolution to
Parliament, provided that there is no objection by the Conference of
Presidents;
- when investigating
petitions, establishing facts or seeking solutions the committee may
organise fact-finding visits to the Member State or region concerned by
the petition. Reports on the visits shall be drafted by their
participants. They shall be forwarded to the President after approval by
the committee;
- the
committee may request assistance from the Commission, notably through
information on the application of Community law or compliance therewith,
as well as by supplying any information or documents relevant to the
petition. Representatives of the Commission shall be invited to attend
meetings of the committee;
- the
committee may request the President to forward its opinion or
recommendation to the Commission, the Council or the Member State authority concerned for action or response;
- a new rule
of citizen's initiative states that when Parliament is informed
that the Commission has been invited to submit a proposal for a legal
act under Article 11(4) of the EU Treaty, the Committee on Petitions
shall ascertain whether this is likely to affect its work and, if need
be, shall inform those petitioners who have addressed a petition on
related subjects.