The right to petition and the relevant EU – legal framewrok

A recent visit of the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI) took place, so as to review a number of petitions submitted by Larnaca citizens, in relation to environmental and health concerns, arising from the creation of an industrial port in Larnaca and the potential consequences of such an operation to the broader area. The latter has raised up a high interest, since local authorities may be found liable when they do not act and/or do not show the appropriate interest, with regard to environmental matters.

Although PETI has not provided for an instant solution to the aforementioned problematic issue, the PETI’s Vice-Chair Pal Csaky stated that the Committee on Petitions is generally “on the side of the citizens” and it is “in a mission to better understand the problem”. He further added, that after a series of meetings, with various Ministries and authorities, PETI shall prepare its recommendations, later this year.

The right to petition to the European Parliament

The right to petition the European Parliament is set out in Article 227 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 44 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (CFREU). It guarantees that any citizen of the European Union and/or any resident in a Member State, may individually and/or in association with others, at any time submit a petition to the European Parliament, on a subject which comes within the European Union’s field of activity and which may affect people’s rights in a direct manner. Any legal entity (for example a company, organization or association) with a registered office, within the European Union, may also exercise this right of petition.

A petition may take the form of a complaint, request or an observation, addressing issues related to the application of EU law and/or an appeal to the European Parliament, in an attempt to adopt a certain thesis on a specific matter. The petition may therefore give the European Parliament the opportunity to call attention to any infringement of a European citizen’s rights by a member State, local authorities and/or other institutions.

Who may submit a petition?

A petition may be submitted by:

• a citizen of the European Union;
• resident in a European Union Member State;
• a legal entity with registered office within E.U.

A petition may be submitted by an individual and/or in association with other citizens.

If a petition is signed by several natural and/or legal persons, the signatories shall designate a representative and/or deputy representatives who will be regarded as the petitioners. If no such representatives have been designated, the first signatory and/or another competent person shall be regarded as the petitioner, by the European Parliament.

Subject of the petition

The subject of a petition should be related to a matter which comes within the Union’s field of competences. This may for instance concern:

• the rights of a European citizen as set out in the Treaties;
• environmental matters;
• consumer protection;
• free movement of persons, goods and services;
• internal market;
• employment issues and social policy;
• recognition of professional qualifications;
• other problems related to the implementation of EU law.

Specific requirements

A petition should be comprehensive and include all facts relating to the issue, but should omit unnecessary details. It should be written clearly and legibly and should be accompanied, by a summary. It should not contain offensive and/or obscene language.

For a petition to be admissible, a petitioner shall be a citizen/resident or, in case of a legal person, have a registered office in a Member State, the issues raised in the petition shall fall within the European Union’s fields of activity and shall directly affect the petitioner.

Petitions written illegibly and/or lacking clarity shall be declared as inadmissible.

It should be emphasized that the European Parliament cannot overturn decisions taken by the competent authorities of the Member States. The European Parliament is not considered to be a judicial body and thus it is not empowered to carry out legal investigations, hand down judgments and/or overturn judgments of the Member States’ Courts.

In which language should be the petition submitted?

A petition must be written in one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.

Petitions can be submitted in two ways:

• electronically via the PETI portal;
• by post to the address of the European Parliament (there is no specific form or standard format to be followed)

It is important to note that every petition shall:

• include the name, nationality and permanent address of a petitioner (in case of a collective petition, it must include the name, nationality and permanent address of the representative or, at least, the first signatory);
• be signed.

A petition may include attachments, including copies of any supporting documents

Treatment and follow-up

After submission of a petition to the Parliament, either electronically or by post, it will firstly be registered by the European Parliament services, marked as anonymous and/or confidential (if a petitioner requests so), and assigned a petition number. A petitioner shall then receive written acknowledgement, of the receipt of his/her petition.

After registration, petitions are transmitted to the Secretariat of the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament, for analysis and assessment.

The Secretariat may contact a petitioner to request additional information using the contact information provided by the petition. The Secretariat prepares a summary of the petition and provides recommendations to Members of the Committee on Petitions, for further action.

Decisions on the admissibility and/or inadmissibility of petitions are taken by the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament.

Inadmissible petitions

In case a petition does not fulfill the admissibility requirements, it should be declared as inadmissible, by the Committee on Petitions. Petitions declared inadmissible are filed and no further action is taken.

Depending on the subject of a petition, the Committee on Petitions may advice a petitioner to contact a non-EU body (e.g. the European Court of Human Rights), a national authority (e.g. the national ombudsman or national petitions committees) or a judicial authority.

Admissible petitions

If a petition meets the admissibility requirements, it will be declared admissible by the Committee on Petition, which will then decide what type of action should be taken, according to Article 216 of the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.

Depending on circumstances, the Committee on Petitions may:

• ask the European Commission to conduct a preliminary investigation on a petition and provide information regarding compliance with relevant EU legislation;
• refer a petition to other European Parliament committees for more detailed information and/or further action (a committee might, for example, take account of a petition in its legislative activities);
• in some exceptional cases, prepare and submit a full report to be voted on, by the European Parliament in plenary, and/or conduct a fact-finding visit to the country and/or region concerned and thus issue a report containing its observations and recommendations;
• take any other action considered as appropriate and/or try to resolve an issue and/or deliver a suitable response to the petition.

In cases when the rights of a petitioner have been breached, by the public authorities of a Member State, the Committee on Petitions may recommend the petitioner to contact SOLVIT – an online service provided by the national administration in each EU country.

Closing of petitions

A petition may be closed at various stages of the procedure:

• after a decision on admissibility is taken, by the Committee;
• after discussion in the Committee meeting; the Committee may decide after consideration of a petition that the case has been sufficiently discussed and researched;
• when the Committee decides that no further action can be taken on the specific petition, the list is deemed to be approved at the end of the Committee meeting;
• after a petition is withdrawn by the petitioned, or the Committee closes the petition due to a lack of response from the petitioner within a given deadline.

In all cases, a petitioner is informed about Committee’s conclusions, in a written form and provided with relevant information and documentation where appropriate once the decision becomes available.

It is important to note, that the European Parliament is not a Court of Appeal and has no investigative and/or sanctionary powers of its own. It is a political Assembly, which acts as a facilitator for citizens, and may lend political support.

If, however, new information strengthening the case of petitioners emerges, they may submit it. The Committee may consider re-opening of the case.

After submission petitions are registered and are given a unique number, of which a petitioner will be informed by post. Petitions are then summarized and submitted to the members of the Committee on Petitions for a decision on admissibility and follow-up. It is only after this decision is taken that summaries of the petitions will appear on the portal.

As a general rule, petitions are published in all official EU languages on the Petitions Portal of the European Parliament, only after a decision on admissibility has been taken, by the Committee on Petitions. Such summaries include the name of the petitioner (or their initials if confidential treatment has been requested), the nationality of the petitioner, title of the petition and an outline of the issue. Following the publication of summaries on the Petitions Portal of the European Parliament, it is possible to view the status of petitions and support petitions online.

Privacy protection

The European Parliament respects the privacy of a petitioner. If a petitioner does not wish his/her name to be disclosed or wants his/her petition to be treated in confidentiality, Petitions Web Portal provides for the three confidentiality options during submission of a petition.

If a petition is submitted by post, such request must be clearly and explicitly mentioned in your petition. If no indication of confidentiality is provided, a petition submitted by post will be classified as anonymous.

For any further assistance, do not hesitate to contact our legal experts at THEOCHARIDOU & ASSOCIATES LLC.