The petition at the dawn of the 21st century

The committee adopted the report by Roy PERRY (EPP-ED, UK) and Margot KESSLER (PES, D) on the institution of the petition at the dawn of the 21st century which highlighted the need to streamline the processing of petitions. The committee wanted to shorten the time taken and the deadlines imposed for processing petitions so as to make the whole procedure "quicker, more transparent and more participatory". It pointed out that to achieve these aims clear, precise, transparent legal and administrative rules were needed which defined the cooperation Parliament was entitled to require from the Council and Commission and, via these institutions, from the Member States and national governments. In this connection the report called on the Council and Commission to agree to a review of the interinstitutional agreement governing petitions. The report underlined the right not only of any EU citizen but also of any person resident in a Member State to submit a petition to the European Parliament on any matter falling within the Community's sphere of competence. Lastly, the report backed the idea of creating a network linking the European Parliament's Petitions Committee with its national counterparts, the European Ombudsman and national and local ombudsmen.�