MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) unanimously adopted (with 24 votes), on Tuesday 24 October, the draft own-initiative report by Karen Melchior (Renew Europe, Danish) aimed at digitalising European administrative procedures (see EUROPE 13211/20). The two compromise amendments were adopted.
For the Danish MEP, this text proposes “new rules for the EU’s administrations to guarantee citizens and businesses clarity and control, clearly defined procedures, rights and obligations for citizens when they interact with EU institutions”. According to a press release, the MEPs are urging the Commission to implement their proposals “as a matter of urgency”.
The central aim of this initiative is to create binding legislation establishing the principles of good administration. MEPs are convinced that such a law would increase the transparency and efficiency of the EU administration. In the age of digitalisation and technological advances such as Artificial Intelligence, legislation tailored to EU administrative procedures has become imperative, they argue.
The project also suggests the adoption of principles such as ‘once only’, enabling citizens to submit their data only once during their digital interactions with the authorities. Other proposals include interoperability, the provision of digital services for the elderly, vulnerable and disabled, and the ‘public money - public code’ principle, which calls for the source code of publicly funded software to be accessible to all.
The document also stresses the importance of training and awareness-raising, proposing online tutorials for citizens and appropriate training for staff on new digital solutions.
The text will be put to the plenary vote during the second November session, in the week of the 20th. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)