committee on petitions

The Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament requested the Spanish Government to review the voting system for residents abroad. It considers the current system to imply “difficulties” and believes that it “can be improved”. The vice-president of the committee, the Conservative People’s Party MEP from the Balearic Islands Rosa Estaràs, announced that the complaint of two young Spanish people that had difficulty voting in the general elections of 2011 and in the European elections of 2014 will continue to be investigated, while awaiting explanations from the Spanish Government. In addition, the European Parliament will send a letter to the Spanish Parliament and are confident that the case will be tackled by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the European Commission.

Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.