Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-13-Speech-2-409"
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"en.20071113.36.2-409"2
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"Madam President, I am here and am delighted to be so, because I think that the work that the Committee on Petitions does – and I want to congratulate the rapporteur on the work in terms of his report – is very different to any other committee and, indeed, any other report you will find. We are, I suppose, as members of the committee, and to use that well-worn phrase which I do not like, ‘close to the citizen’. I think that is very important. They ring our office, they know our assistants, they ask for help, and we do that. We give them help and bring their petitions to Parliament. We also deal with a wide range of issues, and that requires Members to educate themselves on all of those issues that come before us, from environment matters to financial services to whatever it is.
We are the committee that most frequently meets, greets and deals with ‘real people’ – and, again, that is a phrase I do not like to use, but it is a very important one when we speak here in this Chamber so late in the evening. But the truth is that we rely greatly on the Commission to come back to us with answers, and sometimes the quality, and indeed quantity, of the responses at meetings is poor, I have to say; not always, but in some cases it is not timely and we could do our business a little bit better. I would support all of the efforts and the mentions made in the report that we do just that.
I believe, though, that it takes a particular individual to come to the Committee on Petitions of Parliament. There are many citizens who would like to do it, but would not be able to, so we are dealing with people with great determination and obviously people who are angry as well about what is happening in their Member State and they want action.
I will give you an example of a landfill dump called Whiteriver in my own country, in Co. Louth. It is on our agenda at some time in the future, but even the threat of the Committee on Petitions dealing with this issue has resulted in positive action on the ground. So, sometimes, we have an effect and we may not even know about it before the petition comes to Parliament.
I want to mention particularly last year’s Equitable Life, which was a child, if you like, of the committee’s work. Again, in relation to Equitable Life, it was very important for us not to promise more to people than we could actually deliver. What the people wanted from us was obviously some measure of redress in terms of compensation for their losses. We could not do that and we were very strict in saying that, but I think it was important that we pointed out where the responsibility lay – and it lay with the UK Government.
I think it is also important that we keep the pressure on those with the responsibility, again the UK authorities, in relation to Equitable Life, to get them to take action. A lot of our work is political and it is about pressure points and we have to be determined in order to get results.
I would say this and I have said it to my colleagues in the PPE-DE Group: I think we need a quality-control measure on the work of the committee so that we can do our work better, that we ask petitioners after we have gone through the process what they thought of us in terms of the work we did. I think we should not be afraid of that. Lastly can I say, because I say it every time I get a chance, European City Guides needs to be addressed, and I hope it will be."@en1
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