Citizens residing in the European Union predominantly filed for petitions in 2022 on the environment, human rights and foreign policy themes, the EU announced on Tuesday.
A total of 1,217 petitions were received by the European Parliament in 2022. The most common themes of petitions were the environment (21.2% of all received petitions), fundamental rights (17.4%), justice (15.6%) and external relations (10.4%).
Within the cases filed to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee, was the issue of establishing an EU Green Prosecutor – which would be "a common toolbox for fighting environmental crime." Following the petition, a meeting was organised with EU and Europol officials in March at the Parliament.
Several of the committee’s fact-finding visits were also related to environmental concerns which were the result of a petition. Some of these included looking into the degradation in the Mar Menor, the largest lagoon in Spain and alleged breaches of EU environmental law in the old-growth forest in Bialowieża, Poland.
The Petitions Committee also tabled motions for resolutions on nutrient pollution and illegal logging, which were adopted by the Parliament plenary in April and June, respectively.
Foreign affairs and fundamental rights
While the environment was the main topic, the biggest increase was noted in external relations – particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the surrounding geopolitical context.
Human rights featured heavily, with petition leading to a Parliament hearing on recognising the cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU as a vital component of European cultural heritage.
LGBTQ rights were discussed in the context of discrimination. Petitions were filed on the reports of LGBTQ-free zones in Poland or the repeated human rights breaches of LGBTQ communities in Hungary. Disability rights also featured, with workshops organised and an MEP mission the United Nations headquarters in New York.
To improve the petitions system, MEPs are proposing certain improvements, such as urging European Commission officials who attend meetings on citizens’ petitions, to use "plain, simple and empathetic language, so that their responses to the petitioners can be clearly understandable."
The right to petition the European Parliament is a fundamental right of every EU citizens, enshrined in the EU Treaties. In 2022, 79 % were submitted through the Parliament’s Petitions Web Portal, which was updated to make it more user-friendly.
