EUobserver takes a deep dive into the workings and new chairs of every single European Parliament committee for the new 2024-2029 session, in a series of articles first published in our print magazine of October 2024
As the agenda is set by EU citizens it’s difficult to predict what the main priorities of the European Parliament's petitions committee (PETI) will be, said its new chairman, Poland’s Bogdan Rzońca (ECR).
“In 2019, no one expected that the term starting then would be primarily marked by the Covid pandemic and Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The committee received a large number of petitions related to health security, vaccinations, certificates, the refugee situation, and high energy prices. Therefore, we must always be prepared for events beyond our control.”
During its last mandate, PETI oversaw almost 7,000 petitions – which can be started by any EU citizen without a mandatory minimum of signatures – and “played a major role in addressing citizens' concerns over the impact of national emergency measures on citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms” during the Covid pandemic, according to its activity report on the previous mandate.
“The PETI committee is the first point of contact, where citizens can raise their concerns and issues regarding what they believe is not working properly. This gives the committee on petitions the ability to have a significant impact on law-making,” Rzońca said.
He gives the example of PETI’s work in the area of people with disabilities and the adoption of a European Disability Card. “By the end of the last term, we successfully finalised work on a directive on this topic, with input from our committee being taken into account.”
The PETI committee can initiate plenary discussions in the European Parliament, send fact-finding missions to areas of concern, send questions to the European Commission – even asking for legal action against member states – and liaise with the European Ombudsman, whose hearing falls under the committee’s responsibility.
Rzonca believes that, similar to previous terms, topics related to rule of law and environmental issues “will stir a lot of emotions”, and that his role with the committee will be to “temper these emotions, works towards compromises and ensure efficient processing of petitions,” to minimise the delay between a petition and its response.
Hailing from the Law and Order (PiS) party in Poland, the 63-year-old Rzonca stresses that “direct contact and the opportunity to take part in the work of the European Parliament influences the image of the entire institution among citizens.”
Alluding to gains by the far- and radical right in both the parliament elections earlier this year and various European national and regional elections, Rzonca said that image is important because “the EU institutions are not always perceived positively by its residents.”
The latest Eurobarometer survey shows that nearly six out of ten EU citizens are satisfied with the way democracy works in the EU and that more or less the same percentage is optimistic about the future of the EU.
The PETI coordinators are: Alma Ezcurra Almansa (EPP, Spain), Sandra Gómez López (S&D, Spain), Kosma Złotowski (ECR, Poland), Michał Kobosko (Renew, Poland), Gordan Bosanac (Greens/EFA, Croatia).
Alejandro Tauber is Publisher of EUobserver. He is Ecuadorian, German, and American, but lives in Amsterdam. His background is in tech and science reporting, and was previously editor at VICE's Motherboard and publisher of TNW.
Alejandro Tauber is Publisher of EUobserver. He is Ecuadorian, German, and American, but lives in Amsterdam. His background is in tech and science reporting, and was previously editor at VICE's Motherboard and publisher of TNW.