On the petition warpath
For all campaigners against injustice, one sure fire way of getting your case heard at a political level is to submit a petition. We meet the EU petitions committee to find out how to go about it
An Italian pasta maker in Bari protesting against supermarket chains that are "pricing pasta below the production costs and thus distorting competition"; a group of Spanish citizens complaining that "28 species of regularly occurring migratory birds" will be endangered if the Basque Autonomous Community goes ahead with plans to build windfarms in protected areas of Alava; a Romanian blood donor outraged that his confidentiality has been violated by hospital administrators in Bucharest....
These disgruntled Europeans represent a small sample of the thousands of men, women and organisations that draw up lists of grievances to submit to the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions every year. Not as well known or as powerful as the office of the EU Ombudsman, the Petitions Committee (PETI) has an even broader remit, investigating any complaints or requests by citizens not adequately covered by national legislation. The environment, the single market, social affairs, consumer protection and fundamental rights are its principal areas of concern.
PETI meetings take place once or, occasionally, twice a month in one of Parliament’s spacious amphitheatres surrounded by glassed-in booths where the interpreters carry out their exacting profession in the Parliament’s 23 official languages. The current Committee President is Erminia Mazzoni, MEP, an attractive, steady-eyed disciplinarian who does her best to hold her sometimes unruly or overly enthusiastic petitioners to the five-minute time limit they are entitled to. "Please be brief," is a recurrent refrain. Or she admonishes others to speak more slowly for the sake of the interpreters. The task of presiding "isn’t always easy," she admits with a smile, "and I sometimes have to be quite strict, which is why one of my Italian colleagues calls me ‘il mostro’ [the monster]."
Surely a canard, and yet it's true that the atmosphere in this solemn assembly can turn electric and the language heated when men and women who may have suffered injustices or indignities are doing their best to defend their position, perhaps after years of frustration at the national level. Naples, Italy, has suffered from problems of sewage disposal for years and at the meeting in November petitioner Salvatore Fatone brought up the subject of a water purification system in the nearby community of Licola. While purifying the water, he charged, the installation pollutes the air "with a nauseating stench". Demonstrations and complaints to the local authorities have been largely if not altogether ignored.
PETI is empowered to send investigators on a Fact Finding Visit (FFV) when conflicting versions of an issue arise, as they only so often do. The Committee was urged to take this step by Irish petitioner Andrew Jackson concerning the extraction of peat. He accused the Republic of Ireland of failing to enforce EU environmental protection laws. With dramatic photographs and a PowerPoint presentation, Jackson showed the results of what he called "a clear lack of respect for mother nature," and urged that a delegation go to Ireland "to see with their own eyes" the damage these violations have already caused to the land.
In the words of Chair Erminia Mazzoni, the Committee investigates infringements of European law; it does not itself legislate. But as of April 1, 2012, a new and far-reaching initiative will come into force: the European Citizens Initiative. ECI campaigners are empowered to collect signatures (a minimum of one million are needed) for what might be described as a ‘super petition’ that can call directly on the European Commission to propose specific legislation in an area of EU competence. Ever since the new procedure was introduced last February, Mazzoni says, people across Europe "have begun preparing the first ECI campaigns on a very diverse range of issues".
Inevitably, some of the issues that PETI highlights may well be judged controversial. None more so perhaps than the petition from ISI-Europa, a German-based group that promotes the decriminalisation and legalisation of cannabis in Europe. After sending an appeal to the Committee that was deemed admissible, ISI has been encouraged to undertake a million-signature campaign in line with the ECI initiative. "The more than fifteen million occasional or regular users of cannabis in Europe are not criminals!" ISI proclaims. If they can get one in 15 of them to sign their ECI petition, the new law will be given its first major test. This, she adds, "represents a significant goal towards the construction of a fully democratic European Union".
A browse through history reveals that petitioning has a long and illustrious pedigree. As far back as the second century BCE, China set up a special office to hear complaints about corrupt officials that were then transmitted directly by voice to the Emperor. And, of course, in modern times the first amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees "the right to petition for the redress of grievances," and even to sue the government. Undoubtedly the longest list of signatures was appended to the People’s Charter of 1837 in Britain that collected some three million names of citizens demanding the vote, secret ballot and annual parliaments.
On a rather more modest scale, Brussels has its own Pétitions-Patrimoine, a non-profit group of activists who fight to protect threatened neighbourhoods from property speculators and other urban predators. Their urgent appeals to local politicians are often gratifyingly successful.
When the plans for the ambitious European Citizens Initiative finally take off with the gathering of signatures, the new idea of international petitioning will gain in strength and spontaneity, today’s innovation will be tomorrow's familiar practice, and as PETI President Mazzoni predicts, we will see "a fully democratic and participative European Union".
The procedure for submitting a petition to PETI couldn't be simpler. You either write them a letter or send it online. By post requires no special form, but you should try to be as clear and complete, yet concise, as possible. All communications are carefully considered, but not all are admissible; out of 1,655 received in 2010, there were 653 that were deemed inadmissible or inappropriate.
Hear our voice
You can submit a petition to PETI in any one of the 23 EU languages. The postal address is The President of the European Parliament, Rue Wiertz, B-1047 Brussels. The email address is peti-secretariat@europarl.europa.eu. (While you’re at it you can ask to receive their regular PETI Newsletter, a useful summary of the Committee’s activities.) All meetings that petitioners have not asked to be confidential are web-streamed on the European Parliament’s website, www.europarl.europa.eu.
