Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-395"
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"en.20071113.36.2-395"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the work of the Committee on Petitions is an admirable resource enabling us to gain an in-depth understanding of the problems and complaints of citizens regarding European affairs.
While these cover a wide range of policy areas, they frequently touch up on land-planning and environmental issues. They essentially involve all Member States and encompass broad sections of civil society, from individual citizens to multinational NGOs.
Your rapporteur rightly, I think, underlines the importance of the work entailed in the 1 000 or more petitions you receive each year. There are three aspects of the report and the resolution that I should like to mention.
The first of these is a recent development: the visits the Commission makes to places where a particular problem has arisen. These visits may have considerable media impact and will undoubtedly give your work a higher profile. In addition to being covered by the press and the media generally, these missions engender very detailed reports which, in my opinion, are of high quality. I believe these are important records of your activity and certainly deserve wide publicity. Those of you who managed to hear the radio programmes last week about the activity of the Committee on Petitions will have understood how important it is that you should give those submitting petitions a personal hearing in the presence of all the necessary experts. This represents a large investment in time and resources, but I am sure it would be worthwhile.
The second point I should like to emphasise has always been a favourite in these debates: the coexistence or even duplication of a petition and complaint, possibly giving rise to a contravention procedure. The report indicates that in 2006 at least, the Commission once again did not keep Parliament as well informed as the latter would have liked. You must surely have foreseen that at this point I would answer by referring to our recent communication on the enforcement of Community law, entitled ‘A Europe of Results’. This communication contains commitments on transparency, the setting of priorities, modernisation, better cooperation with the national authorities and everything you could wish for in these cases of duplication. That is not all, however. We have already started work on a document outlining the policy. The document will put all this to use in the environment sector, which, as I understand from your report, is one of the sectors you are most concerned with.
The third and final point I should like to mention applies more to the future. Let me assure you once again that we intend there to be the best possible cooperation between the Commission and Parliament. Such cooperation is mutually beneficial. Systematic cooperation leads to a better exchange of information and hence an improvement in the level of service offered to our citizens in all sectors. This is what we all want, so let us try to ensure that the examination of petitions is exemplary.
Once again, I congratulate the rapporteur for raising this issue."@en1
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