Committee on petitions. Annual report 1999-2000

The committee adopted the report by Jean LAMBERT (Greens/EFA, UK) on the committee's activities for 1999-2000. This period was every bit as busy for the committee as the previous year, a trend which it believed bolstered its role within the institutions and put it in a good position to ensure transparency in the implementation of Community law. The report called for more resources to be made available to deal with the petitions received (around 500 of those submitted were deemed admissible and subsequently processed). It also urged various key players to improve their approach to petitions: the Council was invited to attend meetings of the committee and Member State governments were requested to respond more promptly to questions so as not to hold up the process. In an effort to maintain its role as a link between the public and the EU institutions, the committee planned, in line with the report's conclusions, to submit proposals to Parliament in the near future to enable it to work more effectively. Among the ideas it envisaged would be closer cooperation with the other parliamentary committees.