Committee on Petitions. Annual report 1997-1998

Adopting the report by Mr Alessandro Fontana (UPE, I) on the deliberations of the Committee on Petitions during the parliamentary year 1997 to 1998, Parliament draws attention to the importance of the right of petition enshrined in the Treaties, not only for he Union's citizens and residents but also for its Institutions. It emphasises that the right of petition ensures the Union's citizens of the possibility of full democratic participation and information; however there are not sufficient staff to carry out this task; it thus reiterates its call for the appropriate resources to ensure that citizens are properly informed of their right of petition. By this means it seeks to remain in permanent contact with public opinion while improving its monitoring of the general operation of the Community. Emphasising the greater use of information technologies, it welcomes the proposal to enable petitions to be accepted via the Internet and calls on the relevant departments to put this into practice. It regrets that the Council has ignored the Committee's summonses concerning serious failures to implement, or infringement of, Community law and its call for regular attendance by Council officials at committee meetings. It hopes that there will be an improvement in the action taken by Member States in cases in which infringements are reported. It instructs its committees to continue to give careful consideration to the petitions referred to them, ensure they are adequately followed up, and consider the possibility of including in their current and future programme of work the petitions referred to them as falling within their province. �