12. Appealing to the EU Commission
Comments made by ‘commissioners’ in the meeting of the Petitions Committee had shocked me into my ‘six minutes of passion’ in March 2014, when I presented the petition to Abolish Adoptions without Parental Consent to the Petitions Committee of the EU Parliament.
In writing I had submitted:
- Abolition of Adoptions without Parental Consent
- A 12-page Dossier of Online Evidence
- the signatures of four online petitions.
Since then, I have come to realise that the EU Commission is completely out of touch with their EU Citizens. In some ways this is to be expected; after all they are employed rather than elected, so there is little motivating them to keep in line with the needs of those they are supposed to be serving.
Even worse, the EU Commission seem to set themselves up as independent judges rather than people supposed to simply monitor and enforce EU Law. Perhaps this gives them some flexibility. But it also gives them the opportunity to completely ignore EU law – or issues of public interest – which may be relevant, or even crucial.
The Petitions Committee really acts as a ‘Public Grand Jury’; when there is a significant outcry over an issue, it often comes to the EU’s attention through the signatures, and therefore the concerns of, EU citizens. So really, the EU Commission ought to accept what the MEPs of the Petitions Committee say rather than oppose and question it, because it already has the demonstrable backing of citizens within the EU.
Why is there this gap between designated function and its practice, I wonder?
Well, ‘legal eagle’ Debbie, a fellow McKenzie Friend, took the challenge on. Together we produced
- this 21-page report about the Discrepancies between EU Directive 2011/92 and UK Family Court Law
- a one-page Executive Summary.
I handed the folder containing these documents to the First Vice-President of the EU Commission on 05.05.15. There was nobody to take a photo (as if I’d need proof…?) and he said to me, “I’ll come back to you.”
I reported this exchange in my Brussels News – A mi manera – I did it my way.
