Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Pursuant to Rule 233(7) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, the Committee on Petitions shall report annually on the outcome of its deliberations. The report aims to provide an overview of the work carried out by the committee in 2024 and includes a statistical analysis of the petitions received and processed as well as a stocktaking of other parliamentary activities such as the adoption of reports and opinions, the organisation of hearings and the committee’s relations with other EU institutions. It is worth recalling that the core work of the Committee on Petitions generates from the right to petition the European Parliament exercised by EU citizens and residents under Article 227 TFEU and is not directly linked to the work programme of the Commission.

2024 marked again a pivotal moment for European democracy, with EU citizens being asked to elect a new European Parliament. Between 6 and 9 June 2024, almost 359 million citizens across 27 EU Member States were invited to vote to elect their representatives to the European Parliament. With a turnout of almost 51% — similar to the 2019 election, which was the highest in twenty years — citizens made their voices heard in electing members of the European Parliament. The newly elected Parliament convened for its constitutive session on July 16, 2024, when the 720 newly elected Members of the European Parliament took office.

The Committee on Petitions held its constitutive meeting on 23 July 2024 and elected Mr Bogdan Rzońca (ECR, PL) as Chair, Ms Dolors Montserrat (EPP, ES), as first Vice-Chair, Mr Fredis Beleris (EPP, EL), as second Vice-Chair, Mr Nils Ušakovs (S&D, LV) as third Vice-Chair and Ms Cristina Guarda (Greens/EFA, IT), as fourth Vice-Chair.

To facilitate the organisation of the European elections, a parliamentary recess was observed from 26 April 15 to July 2024, during which regular parliamentary activities were temporarily suspended. This explains the reduced number of reports, opinions, resolutions, and hearings adopted in 2024. In contrast, EU citizens and residents continued to exercise their right to petition throughout the recess, as evidenced by the continuous flow of petitions registered in 2024.

Statistical analysis of petitions received in 2024 compared to 2023

According to the statistics, the European Parliament received 1.518 petitions in 2024, which represents an increase by 4.3 % compared to the 1.452 petitions submitted in 2023 and by 19.8 % compared to the 1.217 petitions registered in 2022.

Users of the Petitions Web Portal have the possibility to support petitions. In 2024, 15.661 users acted as supporters as compared to 26.331 in 2023 and 22.441 in 2022. It follows, that in 2024 the number of users supporting petitions in the web portal significantly decreased in comparison with the previous years. The number of supports similarly decreased in 2024, reaching 17.745 compared to 29.287 in 2023 and 27.927 in 2022.

In 2024, 3 petitions were co-signed by more than one citizen. Of the 3 petitions signed by more than one citizen, 2 were signed by more than 100 citizens; of those 2 petitions 1 was signed by more than 10.000 citizens.

Format of petitions

In 2024, 82 % of petitions were submitted via the Petitions Web Portal, while almost 18 % of petitions were submitted by post. The proportion of petitions submitted via the Petitions Web Portal remained practically the same in 2024 as in 2023, the Petitions Web Portal remaining by far the most used channel for submitting citizens’ petitions to the European Parliament.

Status of petitions per calendar year

The following table shows the status of petitions from 2003 to 2024. It can be noted that in 2024, a very large majority (more than 3/4) of petitions were closed within a year after being received and examined by the committee. This long-standing trend, evident in annual reports since 2010, shows that a majority of petitions are closed within a year of receipt and examination. Overall, less than 10 % of the petitions received each year since 2003 remain open, except for the very recent years (2024 and 2023) as well as 2016 (15.7%). Very small percentages (between 0.2 % and 1.3 %) of petitions from 2004 to 2014 remain open. Most of these open petitions relate to environmental issues and ongoing infringement proceedings before the Court of Justice of the European Union or to issues that members of the committee want to follow closely. An important number of petitions on beach concessions in Italy have been submitted from 2012 to 2024 (with the highest numbers in 2016, 2023, and 2024) and are still open, which has a significant impact on the statistics.

Outcome of petitions

The tables show that the percentage of petitions declared inadmissible in 2024 is significantly higher than the percentage of petitions declared inadmissible in 2023. On the contrary, the percentage of admissible petitions (36.3 %) that were closed immediately by providing information to the petitioner has dropped in 2024 compared to 2023 (49.17 %). The percentage of petitions that have been kept open in 2024 remained almost stable (20.45 % in 2023 compared to 21.34 % in 2024).

It is also to be noted that in 2024, almost a quarter (24.83 %) of the admissible petitions were sent to the Commission for opinion, less than in 2023 when 36.6 % of admissible petitions where referred to the Commission.

Finally, the percentage of petitions sent to other bodies for opinion also decreased in 2024 compared to 2023.

Number of petitions by country

The following two tables illustrate, both in numbers and percentage terms, the changes in petitions by country from 2023 to 2024. A large number of petitions submitted in both years concern the EU. It means that these petitions either raise EU-wide issues or call for common measures to be implemented throughout the EU. Petitions concerning the EU may also relate to one or more Member States and are therefore registered under both the EU and the concerned Member State(s). This explains why the sum of the petitions concerning the EU and of those only related to Member States exceeds the total number of petitions submitted in 2023 and 2024.

Additionally, it is worth stressing that the nine countries mostly concerned by petitions remained the same in both years although the ranking of the most concerned countries has changed in 2024 compared to 2023. The majority of petitions submitted in 2024 concern Spain - as was the case in 2023. While the number of petitions concerning Spain and Italy decreased (respectively from 267 to 229 and from 202 to 170), an opposite flow of the number of petitions related to Germany is observed, with an increase from 120 to 142 petitions submitted in 2024.

The number of petitions concerning non-EU countries continue decreasing in 2024, with 125 petitions compared to 176 petitions submitted in 2023.

As regards the countries featuring at the bottom of the list, Slovenia, Latvia and Ireland are the least concerned countries in 2024, while in 2023 it was the case for Slovakia, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

Languages of petitions

In 2024 - as in 2023 - petitions were submitted in 22 of the official languages of the European Union. English and Spanish were the most used languages in both 2023 and 2024, with Spanish re-confirmed as the second most used language for the third consecutive year. German was the third most used language in 2024, due to the decrease in petitions submitted in Italian in 2024 compared to 2023. The tables illustrate that English continued to account for more than 1/4 of the total of petitions submitted and that English, Spanish, German and Italian languages account for almost 3/4 of the petitions received in 2024 (73.1 %), slightly decreasing compared to the previous years (77.5% in 2023 and 76.2% in 2022). Slovenian, Slovak and Latvian were the least used languages in 2024 while in 2023 it was the case of Slovak, Estonian and Croatian.

Nationality of petitioners

As regards nationality, petitions submitted by Spanish citizens represented the highest number in 2024, as was the case in 2023 and 2022. The number of petitions from Italian citizens decreased while those from German petitioners increased, German becoming in 2024 the second nationality in submitting petitions.

In addition, the tables below show a significant increase in the number of petitions submitted in 2024 by Polish and Greek nationals in comparison with the previous year.

Main subjects of petitions

The tables below include the top ten petition themes. It appears that the main area of concern for petitioners remains the same in 2024 as in 2023, namely the environment. Petitions relating to internal market and fundamental rights remain at the top of the ranking, although they both registered a decrease in 2024 compared to 2023. It is important to note that the ‘Personal Matters’ theme, which ranks second, predominantly covers inadmissible petitions. When admissible petitions fall within this category, they are typically linked to a secondary theme as well, which makes the ‘Personal Matters’ theme less relevant for the purpose of this assessment.

Among the other themes, it is interesting to note that the number of petitions on external relations significantly decreased in 2024 compared to 2023 (from 96 to 63), which confirms the trend already registered in 2023 (from 126 in 2022 to 96 in 2023). Similarly, the committee received a lower number of petitions (28) on constitutional affairs as compared to the 68 petitions received under the same theme the previous year. By contrast, the number of petitions related to institutions increased in 2024 compared to 2023 (from 52 to 90). It is also worth recalling that in 2024 the European elections took place, which partly explains that the number of petitions on voting rights and elections was higher (30) than in 2023, when 9 petitions were registered. Finally, the number of petitions on health slightly decreased in 2024 compared to 2023.

Petitions Web Portal

Two key priorities shaped the 2024 developments of the Petitions Web Portal.

To align with EU rules on data protection, an extensive archiving process concerning not only the Petitions Web Portal but also all relevant Europarl domains was initiated at the end of the 2019-2024 legislature. The implementation required careful data selection, migration, and deletion, all while maintaining the uninterrupted functionality of all IT applications.

A major technical milestone was reached with the fully automated and synchronised publication of adoptions of petitions, status changes, additional information (country, themes) and the summaries in all 24 EU languages on the Petitions Web Portal. This replaced the previous manual publication process, significantly improving efficiency.

The PETI Portal team continued in 2024 to ensure that all petitions were published within days of their adoption and promptly responded to numerous petitioner queries – in all EU official languages – received through the chatbot and Smart Helpdesk.

Overall, the Petitions Web Portal maintained its citizen-focused approach by strengthening technical foundations, streamlining workflows and investing in inclusive digital features.

Relations with the Commission

The Commission remains the natural partner of the Committee on Petitions in processing petitions as the responsible EU institution for ensuring the implementation of and compliance with EU law. The committee and the Commission have a well-established and consistently maintained level of cooperation. The main contact point in the Commission is the Secretariat-General, which coordinates the distribution of petitions to the relevant Commission’s services and transmits the Commission’s replies to the secretariat of the committee. The Commission’s services participate in the meetings of the Committee of Petitions when petitions are discussed in committee on the basis of the Commission’s written reply or of other documents received. While the Commission has stepped up its efforts to provide timely responses to requests for information made by the Committee on Petitions, the committee emphasised that the responses should be clear, simple and empathic, in order to convey better understanding to petitioners.

Commission representatives intervened in two committee events. On 14 February 2024, the advisor for Methane, Fossil Fuel Phase-out, and International Just Transition at DG Energy spoke at a hearing on ‘The responsibilities of fossil fuel companies in the cost of living crisis,’ focusing on the EU’s response to energy price increases. On 2 December 2024, a Senior Expert on disability from DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion participated in the annual workshop on the rights of persons with disabilities.

Following the European elections and the establishment of the new Parliament, the commissioners-designate appeared before the parliamentary committees and took part in hearings to enable the recently elected MEPs to evaluate their competence and suitability for their positions. In this respect, the Committee on Petitions participated on 4 November 2024 in the confirmation hearing of Commissioner-designate for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency, Maroš Šefčovič, as invited committee.

In this context, the committee had the opportunity to ask questions to Commissioner-designate Šefčovič. In response to the committee’s request for higher-level Commission staff attendance to better address petitioners’ concerns, Commissioner-designate Šefčovič stated that Commissioners or directors-general could participate if petitions were addressed in clusters during the committee meetings.

In addition, the committee emphasised the need for greater transparency in infringement procedures and better communication with petitioners of the state of play of these procedures. Commissioner-designate Maroš Šefčovič highlighted the new option to search the Commission’s public register for petitions linked to infringement cases and pledged to explore further integration with the European Parliament’s Petitions Portal. He also committed to enhancing transparency with new, user-friendly webpages on infringement cases. In response to the committee’s reiterated call for a new inter-institutional IT tool between the Commission and Parliament to improve access to petition-related information, Mr Šefčovič said he was open to assessing its feasibility within budgetary limits.

Relations with the Council

Members of the Council’s Secretariat may attend the meetings of the Committee on Petitions. Regrettably, in 2024 as in previous years, the committee did not observe Council’s participation in the debates. In this respect, the committee considers that a more active cooperation with Member States would be necessary to unblock those petitions requiring prompt responses and reactions from the national authorities. Although some local or regional authorities may have participated in the discussions on petitions in committee meetings, this did not happen in 2024.

Relations with the European Ombudsman

The Committee on Petitions continued its constructive, long-standing working relations with the office of the European Ombudsman, Ms Emily O’Reilly, contributing to the increase of the democratic accountability of the EU institutions.

On 4 September 2024, Ms Emily O’Reilly presented her annual report for 2023 to the Committee on Petitions. The report documents the Ombudsman’s work on dealing with citizens’ complaints concerning the EU administration. In 2023, the Ombudsman opened 398 inquiries – of which 5 on her own initiative – with complaints related to transparency and accountability accounting for the biggest proportion (34,2 %), while the average length of time for an inquiry was less than six months. Ms O’Reilly stressed the Ombudsman’s role as a bridge between the EU administration and civil society and thanked the Committee for the excellent cooperation.

At its meeting of 14 November 2024, the committee adopted by a very large majority (31 votes in favour, 2 votes against and 0 abstention) the Report on the annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in 2023.

It is also worth noting the participation of the European Ombudsman, Ms O’Reilly, at the committee’s annual workshop on the rights of persons with disabilities, which took place on 2 December 2024.

Finally, the election of the new European Ombudsman took place at the plenary part-session in Strasbourg on 17 December 2024, following a public hearing of the candidates organised on 3 December 2024 in the Committee on Petitions. The hearing of the six admissible candidates for the Office of the European Ombudsman was open to all Members of the European Parliament. Following the introductory statement setting out their priorities, candidates answered numerous questions from Members of the Committee on Petitions and other Members of the European Parliament. Finally, candidates were given time to make concluding remarks.

Relations with the European Court of Auditors

Over recent years, the Committee on Petitions has built constructive working relations with the European Court of Auditors (ECA). As in previous years, it has actively contributed to the ECA annual work programme for 2025.

Relations with other EU bodies

On 2 December 2024, the Head of Human Rights Structures and Mechanisms sector at the Fundamental Rights Agency spoke at the Committee on Petitions’ “Annual Workshop on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, which focussed on ‘The Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030: State of Play’.

Fact-finding visits

In 2024, the Committee on Petitions did not organise fact-finding visits due to the European election recess period. However, the committee carried out the follow-up assessment of and adopted two reports on fact-finding visits which took place in 2023 (see below in section on reports).

Public Hearings

On 14 February 2024, the Committee on Petitions organised a public hearing on ‘The responsibilities of fossil fuel companies in the cost of living crisis’. The aim of the first panel was to analyse the impact of the Ukraine war on energy prices. In the same context, the panel discussed the cost-of-living crisis and energy poverty in the EU, examining the alleged responsibilities that fossil fuel companies bear for the social and economic difficulties faced by EU citizens. The aim of the second panel was to analyse EU’s response to the energy crisis in order to secure energy supply and ensure affordable prices for consumers. The panel also discussed in this context the need for an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representatives associations and civil society, independent from the fossil fuel industry.

Studies

At its meeting of 22-23 January 2024, the committee heard the presentation of the study on ‘Linguistic and cultural diversity – Minority and minoritised languages as part of European linguistic and cultural diversity’ commissioned by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at its request.