Germany, Petitionsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestages
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Petitionsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestages
GERMANY
PETITIONS COMMITTEE: REPORT ON WORK IN 2001 CONFIRMS POSITIVE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO PETITIONS LEGISLATION
On Tuesday, 5 June 2002, Mrs Heidemarie Lüth of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), chairwoman of the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag, together with representatives from each of the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag, presented the report on the work of the Petitions Committee in the year 2001 to Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse in Berlin.
“The Petitions Committee dealt conclusively with 17,550 petitions in the year 2001. This represented a 30% increase over the previous year. In the course of the year, the Committee received 15,765 new submissions,” said Mrs Lüth. Once again, many of these fell within the area of competence of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, an area which accounted for more than 30% of petitions. Mrs Lüth emphasised, in the presence of the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups on the Petitions Committee, that the right of petition had continued to play an important role in the political process. It had been used to bring to the attention of parliament and the government, through the Petitions Committee, problems requiring urgent attention, specific injustices and difficulties created for individual citizens by the practical effects of legislation. The Committee was determined, she said, to use all ways and means at its disposal to pursue citizens’ concerns, although this was not always easy. She particularly stressed the importance of the fact that the Federal Government took account of the work of the Petitions Committee and that its work had an
impact on the parliamentary groups and the other bodies of the German Bundestag. Only this sort of response, said Mrs Lüth, could guarantee that the people of Germany would regard the Petitions Committee as the appropriate address for their concerns and suggestions.
In 41% of the new submissions, petitioners had requested the amendment of legal provisions; the other 59% were complaints about the work of the public authorities. Despite all its efforts to operate more efficiently and transparently and to work more closely with the people it served, the public administration still aroused wide-ranging criticism.
In the year 2001, the Petitions Committee received 1,180 collective petitions, i.e. petitions with a list of signatures attached. These petitions contained a total of 107,176 signatures.
A total of 16,779 mass petitions, i.e. submissions on the same subject, identically or similarly worded, were also received. The subjects most frequently addressed in these petitions were the treatment in the pensions legislation of the Federal Republic of supplementary and special pension rights accrued in the former German Democratic Republic, the special constitutional status of Sunday, the phasing-out of nuclear power, asylum issues and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States.
The number of petitions received from the various federal states (Länder) differed widely. The number of petitions per million inhabitants ranged from 101 for Bavaria to 532 for Berlin.
A breakdown of the petitioners by gender showed that more than 58% of submissions were from men and over 32% from women.
Mrs Lüth pointed out that the Federal Government is requested to comment on every petition. During 2001, the Committee had made use on ten occasions of the special powers vested in it by virtue of the Act adopted pursuant to Article 45c of the Basic Law. While the Federal Government endeavoured to use the ways and means at its disposal to address the concerns expressed in the petitions referred to it for remedial action or re-examination, said Mrs Lüth, citing the tables summarising the treatment of petitions contained in the report, a solution often depended on the Committee invoking its right to summon government representatives to its meetings to discuss specific petitions.
The report on the work of the Petitions Committee has been published as Bundestag printed paper No. 14/9146 and is available from the “Secretariat of the Petitions Committee, Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin”. It can also be downloaded from the Bundestag Website at http://www.bundestag.de
Newsletter No. 27
Petitionsausschuss des Deutschen Bundestages
GERMANY
PETITIONS COMMITTEE: REPORT ON WORK IN 2001 CONFIRMS POSITIVE PUBLIC RESPONSE TO PETITIONS LEGISLATION
On Tuesday, 5 June 2002, Mrs Heidemarie LĂĽth of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), chairwoman of the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag, together with representatives from each of the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag, presented the report on the work of the Petitions Committee in the year 2001 to Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse in Berlin.
“The Petitions Committee dealt conclusively with 17,550 petitions in the year 2001. This represented a 30% increase over the previous year. In the course of the year, the Committee received 15,765 new submissions,” said Mrs LĂĽth. Once again, many of these fell within the area of competence of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, an area which accounted for more than 30% of petitions. Mrs LĂĽth emphasised, in the presence of the spokespersons of the parliamentary groups on the Petitions Committee, that the right of petition had continued to play an important role in the political process. It had been used to bring to the attention of parliament and the government, through the Petitions Committee, problems requiring urgent attention, specific injustices and difficulties created for individual citizens by the practical effects of legislation. The Committee was determined, she said, to use all ways and means at its disposal to pursue citizens’ concerns, although this was not always easy. She particularly stressed the importance of the fact that the Federal Government took account of the work of the Petitions Committee and that its work had an
impact on the parliamentary groups and the other bodies of the German Bundestag. Only this sort of response, said Mrs LĂĽth, could guarantee that the people of Germany would regard the Petitions Committee as the appropriate address for their concerns and suggestions.
In 41% of the new submissions, petitioners had requested the amendment of legal provisions; the other 59% were complaints about the work of the public authorities. Despite all its efforts to operate more efficiently and transparently and to work more closely with the people it served, the public administration still aroused wide-ranging criticism.
In the year 2001, the Petitions Committee received 1,180 collective petitions, i.e. petitions with a list of signatures attached. These petitions contained a total of 107,176 signatures.
A total of 16,779 mass petitions, i.e. submissions on the same subject, identically or similarly worded, were also received. The subjects most frequently addressed in these petitions were the treatment in the pensions legislation of the Federal Republic of supplementary and special pension rights accrued in the former German Democratic Republic, the special constitutional status of Sunday, the phasing-out of nuclear power, asylum issues and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States.
The number of petitions received from the various federal states (Länder) differed widely. The number of petitions per million inhabitants ranged from 101 for Bavaria to 532 for Berlin.
A breakdown of the petitioners by gender showed that more than 58% of submissions were from men and over 32% from women.
Mrs LĂĽth pointed out that the Federal Government is requested to comment on every petition. During 2001, the Committee had made use on ten occasions of the special powers vested in it by virtue of the Act adopted pursuant to Article 45c of the Basic Law. While the Federal Government endeavoured to use the ways and means at its disposal to address the concerns expressed in the petitions referred to it for remedial action or re-examination, said Mrs LĂĽth, citing the tables summarising the treatment of petitions contained in the report, a solution often depended on the Committee invoking its right to summon government representatives to its meetings to discuss specific petitions.
The report on the work of the Petitions Committee has been published as Bundestag printed paper No. 14/9146 and is available from the “Secretariat of the Petitions Committee, Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin”. It can also be downloaded from the Bundestag Website at http://www.bundestag.de
