Type: Acts of the European Union: Resolution on the EU Citizenship Report 2010: Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights

Authority: European Authorities - European Union: European Parliament

Date: 03/29/2012

Subject: The European Parliament notes that, although the right to petition the European Parliament is expressly provided for in the Treaties, it is not sufficiently well known or used; it takes the view that the ECI, constitutes the first instrument of transnational participatory democracy; it calls on the Commission, when preparing its annual report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, to focus not only on the application of the Charter, but also on all EU Treaty articles relating to fundamental rights and on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union; it calls on all Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies to ensure that the right of access to documents is guaranteed but it stresses that access to information must not lead to the violation of other fundamental rights such as the right to privacy and data protection, it encourages the Commission to continue its current efforts to ensure that Member States transpose and implement the FMD fully and correctly; it calls on the Commission to link social inclusion priorities to a clear set of objectives that include protection of citizens against discrimination in all areas of life and the promotion of social dialogue between Roma and non-Roma people in order to combat racism and xenophobia; calls on the Commission, as guardian of the Treaties, to ensure that the relevant legislation is implemented in full and that appropriate penalties are imposed for racially motivated crime; it recalls that the almost 80 million people with disabilities in the European Union still face obstacles, insurmountable in many instances, when, in various ways, they exercise their right of free movement as citizens of the Union; it urges the Member States to ensure that hearing-impaired suspects and defendants, including aggrieved parties in the case of criminal offences, be provided, if they so require, with suitable sign-language interpreters, in the interests of protecting their rights and preserving their dignity, and calls the Commission's attention to the need for such facilities; it calls on the Commission and the Member States – with regard to the Commission's proposals to facilitate better access to cross-border healthcare, and given that patients' right to information is fundamental – to inform EU citizens more fully about their rights and the means available for enforcing them; it recalls that Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 lays down the principle that children should be able to maintain their relationships with both parents after the latter have separated, even if they live in different Member States; it recognises that there are a number of obstacles preventing EU citizens' full enjoyment of their electoral rights when residing in a country other than their own

Classification: General theme

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