Missões

17-12-2018 13:00
Fact Finding Visit to Italy: 17 - 18 December 2018

Valley with industrial road in Italy
Mission to Valledora © EP

The Committee on Petitions will conduct a fact-finding mission from 17-18 December 2018 to Valledora, Italy. The purpose of the mission is to investigate concerns about several quarries and landfills located between the municipalities of Alice Castello and Cavaglià (Piedmont Region, Italy). The delegation will meet with local civil and religious authorities, and consult citizens as well as scientific and legal experts before conducting a site inspection in the area concerned.

The delegation will enquire whether there are threats to surface and ground waters, which are claimed to have been caused by leakges from the landfills,and encourage citizens and authorities to act together to seek a solution and prevent irreversible damage to the water sources.

19-09-2018 08:30
Fact-finding visit to Spain: 19 - 21 September 2018

Wooden pathway in beautiful landscape in Donana Natural Park and nature reserve. Palace of Acebron in Huelva, Andalusia Spain
Donana National Park © EP

The Petitions Committee conducted a fact-finding mission to Donana, Spain from 19-21 September 2018. The objective of the mission is to investigate the concerns raised in a series of petitions submitted to the Committee on the environmental situation and possible degradation of the national park in Donana and the surroundings area.

07-05-2018 07:00
Fact-finding visit to Famagusta, Cyprus: 7-8 May 2018

Famagusta.Abandoned hotels and the beach at Varosha in Famagusta .Northern Cyprus.
FFV Famagusta, Cyprus © EP

The Committee on Petitions conducted a fact-finding visit to Famagusta, Cyprus, on 7-8 May 2018. The purpose of the mission, was to reassess the situation in Famagusta, and in particular Varosha, the sealed-off section of the city, in the context of the follow-up to petition 733/2004, 10 years after the Committee’s previous fact-finding visit to the island, which took place on 25-28 November 2007. The petition was submitted by Loizos Afxentiou on behalf of the Famagusta Refugee Movement.

14-02-2018 09:00
Fact finding visit to Germany: 14-16 February 2018

Potsdam, Cottbus (Germany)
Quarry sand polluted by mining waste materials
Mining waste.jpg © European Union

A delegation from the Committee on Petitions (PETI) conducted a fact-finding mission to Brandenburg (Germany), specifically to Potsdam and the Lusatia region, on 14-16 February 2018. The purpose of the mission was to examine issues raised in two petitions relating to the local impacts of the coal industry.

The first petition concerns the impact of coal mines and coal-fired power stations on the Sorb community, a Slavic minority in the region of Lusatia.

The second petition concerns the pollution of the river Spree and the adjacent waters as a consequence of coal-mining activities. During their visit the MEPs met with petitioners, national authorities and other local stakeholders to gather information on the allegations raised in the petitions. On Friday 16 February 2018, the PETI delegation held a press conference in Cottbus.

20-09-2017 08:30
Fact-finding visit to Cyprus: 20-22 September 2017

Larnaca, Cyprus
ship
industrial port pollution © European Union

The Committee on Petitions conducted a fact-finding mission to Larnaca, Cyprus on 20-22 September 2017. The purpose of the mission was to provide a follow-up to a series of petitions by local residents concerning environmental and health concerns due to the creation of an industrial port in Larnaca and consequences of its operation to the broader area.

The delegation visited the harbour of Larnaca and the adjacent municipality of Aradippou and met with petitioners, representatives from Ministries and state entities concerned, as well as members of the Cypriot House of Representatives and the local mayors.

17-07-2017 09:00
Fact-finding visit to Italy: 17 - 19 July 2017

Tamburi neighborhood of Taranto showing pollution from the plant
Tamburi neighborhood, Taranto, Italy © European parliament

The Committee on Petitions conducted a fact-finding mission to Taranto, Italy, on 17-19 July 2017. The delegation visited the ILVA plant (Europe's largest integrated-cycle steelworks), the ENI oil refinery, and the site of the planned extension of the oil jetty. The purpose of the mission was to provide a follow-up to a series of petitions concerning heavy pollution of the air, soil, surface and ground waters both at the ILVA site and in the nearby Tamburi quarter.

The objective of the mission was to meet petitioners and national, regional and local authorities in order to obtain up-to-date information on matters raised by the petitioners and to identify viable solutions to the longstanding environmental problems. To this end, the delegation met with the Commissioner for Environmental Reclamation, the agencies ARPA and ASL responsible for overseeing environmental and public health policy, as well as the technical and administrative managers of ILVA and ENI.

A certain number of petitions are related to a pending infringement procedure (2013/2177) on the breach of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED 2010/75/EU) and the Seveso Directive (2012/18/EU), commenced by European Commission in view of ensuring that the Italian authorities take all the necessary measures to reduce as much as possible the emissions produced by ILVA.

22-05-2017 09:00
Fact-finding visit to Spain: 22 - 23 May 2017

Abandoned stroller in desolate are symbolizes child neglect
empty stroller © EP

A Petitions Committee delegation was in Madrid from 22 to 23 May, to investigate several petitions on babies allegedly stolen at birth by hospital personnel in the country. MEPs met national authorities and petitioners, to see what could be done to get closer to the truth behind the disappearances.

The petitioners claim that the parents could not see the babies after the childbirth and that they were informed by hospital personnel of the new-borns' death shortly after. Numerous similar missing children's cases have been denounced and investigated all over Spain. Most of them date as far back as several decades.

The aim of the delegation was also to examine what could be done in order to possibly reunite parents with their missing children. MEPs inter alia exchanged views with petitioners, Attorney General José Manuel Maza Martín, representatives of Spain's Episcopal Conference, MPs of the Justice Committee of the Spanish Congress and deputy Spanish Ombudsman Concepció Ferrer.

A press conference was held at the European Parliament's Information Office in Madrid on Tuesday 23 May, at 13.00.

20-02-2017 17:00
Fact-finding visit to Sweden: 20 - 21 February 2017

Gamla Stan, the old part of Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm old city © EP

The Committee on Petitions sent a delegation on a fact-finding visit to Stockholm after receiving several petitions on the difficulties faced by EU citizens wishing to live in Sweden for more than a few weeks to get a personal identification number. The delegation met representatives of the different ministerial services involved in the decisions contested by the petitioners.

22-09-2016 10:00
Fact-finding visit to Slovakia: 22 – 23 September 2016

Slovakia
Disability
Disability

The Committee on Petitions constantly receives petitions detailing cases of violation of the fundamental rights of persons with disabilities. One such example is Petition 1459/2012, tabled by Judith Klein, Director of the Mental Health Initiative, Open Society Foundations, concerning the investment of EU funds in residential centres for the disabled in certain Member States of Central and Eastern Europe.

The Committee on Petitions carried out a visit to Bratislava, Slovakia between 22 - 23 September 2016, in view of better understanding the situation on the ground. The mission included a visit to a residential institution, as well as a community-based facility, dialogues with the relevant authorities, civil society representatives and people with disabilities in the respective centres.

08-02-2016 10:00
Fact-finding visit to Spain: 8-10 February 2016

Spain

On 8-10 February 2016 the Committee on Petitions will visit Spain on a fact-finding visit. The visit is organised following the reception of several petitions from EU citizens related to the possible infringement of the EU Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) by the River Basin Management Plans of the Ebro and Tajo rivers.

The objective of the visit is to meet the petitioners and the responsible political authorities, including the authorities of the Hydrographic Confederation of the Tajo and Ebro rivers and the representatives of the Minister of Agriculture, and to obtain actual information on matters raised by the petitioners.