Which opportunities for civil society?

4. Filing a petition

Any citizen of the European Union, a company, or an organisation can - individually or in association with others - submit a petition to the European Parliament on a subject within the EU competence and which directly involves them. In turn, the EP can set up a monitoring commission to check whether Member States have infringed European law.

Shane O’Curry, director of INAR (Irish Network Against Racism), helps us understand how civil society can make the most of this tool. In 2016, as part of the 'Love Not Hate' campaign, INAR launched a petition to the European Parliament to push the Irish government to adopt a hate crime law to protect various minorities in Ireland. INAR used the petition to the EP to initiate a European Commission inspection of Ireland on the obligation to implement the 2008 Framework Decision on racism and xenophobia.

In April 2021, thanks to the mobilisation promoted by INAR and the support of Senator Eileen Flynn, the Irish Minister of Justice announced a bill on hate crimes that will be promulgated by 2022.

Read more about INAR's petition to the European Parliament here: https://inar.ie/enar-ireland-triggers-european-parliaments-investigation-of-ireland-on-hate-crime/

Watch the video:

 Food for thought 

 Did you find the INAR example useful? Is there anything that surprised you? Is there anything of this experience that you     could apply to your work?