Deliberations of the Committee of petitions in 2003 and 2004

The European Parliament adopted the own-initiative report by Rainer WIELAND (EPP-ED,DE) on the work of the Petitions Committee 2003-2004 which reaffirms that the Committee on Petitions is one of the most important bodies within the European Parliament for the exercise of parliamentary scrutiny over the EU institutions as well as national, regional, local and social authorities, thereby improving transparency and awareness of the actions of the European Union as they relate to the European citizen. (Please refer to the summary dated 17/01/2005).

In addition, the Council and the Commission are called upon to review the 1989 Interinstitutional Agreement with the European Parliament, with a view to affording petitioners a more effective means of redress and defining a clear and coherent framework for essential cooperation between the institutions in the area concerned.

Parliament is of the opinion that a Standing Working Group should be set up to improve and to monitor permanently the processing of petitions submitted to the European Parliament.