Negotiating the intricacies of the EU labyrinth

Date: 24/07/1997

THE greatest obstacle EU citizens face in making their voices heard is not only the fact that their options are limited, but also that is so difficult to find out where to go when they have a complaint.

Experts agree that labyrinthine EU processes and institutions, coupled with poor information campaigns, leave average members of the public in the dark about what their rights might be - let alone how to make sure they are enforced.

Apart from the Ombudsman and the European Parliament's petitions committee, there are few ways for citizens to seek redress if they feel that their rights have been breached.

Euro Citizen Action Service (ECAS), based in Brussels, is one of the few organisations which helps people in the Union who have a grievance but do not know whom to contact.

Director Tony Venables agrees that EU citizens are confused. “At a basic level, people often do not know where to go and this is even before you think about European battles,” he says.

Venables' organisation is helping with part of the European Commission's 'Citizens First' initiative designed to keep the EU's 370 million citizens informed of their rights, and its helpline has handled around 200,000 telephone calls in six months.

However, he feels a more permanent structure is needed. One solution he suggests would be to set up a network of Citizens' Advice Bureaux at a local level which specialise in the EU.

“There are 200 Euro-info centres for small and medium-sized enterprises. Why is citizens' advice not part of the task?” he asks.

A regional focus would be best, he believes, as people need help and advice close to hand. “It is not necessarily desirable that everything should gravitate upwards to the EU bodies,” he says.

In the absence of such centres, Venables points to MEPs as being able to provide quick solutions in some cases. The national offices of the Commission also have lawyers working on a part-time basis who may be able to help complainants sort out their problems.

Even the Commission headquarters in Brussels can be helpful if approached directly, although that may, says Venables, depend on which directorate-general is involved.

His organisation has called for a senior Commissioner to have overall responsibility for citizens' rights, given that people have to contact different directorates-general for different issues. “It is a very citizen-friendly Commission, but a very scattered one. The citizen is cut into slices of salami,” he says.