Loránt Vincze: The EC and the EP also share the responsibility of the success of the Citizen’s Initiative

'Members of the Citizen’s Committee, the European Commission and the European Parliament share the responsibility of making sure the Minority SafePack Initiative will be a success', stated FUEN President Loránt Vincze in Brussels on Wednesday, where the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions Committees of the European Parliament held a public hearing on the matter of the ECI. Vincze said that Citizens of Europe take a stand regarding the matter by signing the petition and they expect the European Commission to put the issue on the agenda and elaborate a legislative framework for the protection of autochthonous national minorities. 'We, the originators of the Citizen’s Initiative feel the weight of this responsibility every day, and we hope the institutions of the European Union will share this responsibility as they will be the ones that will need to further this cause, take the matter seriously and formulate answers to the proposals put forth by millions of European citizens', stressed  Vincze in the name of the Citizen’s Committee of the Minority SafePack Initiative.  

In his address the President of the FUEN spoke about the difficulties encountered during the petition campaign and the peculiarities of the online system for gathering signatures, pointing out that the different Member States require different personal data when signing the petition, and that this fact caused quite some difficulties during the process. Synchronizing the petition campaign proved to be hard due to the uniqueness of the form in each country, and as a result a coordination centre needed to be installed in virtually every Member State. This was a significant burden on the minority protection umbrella organisation. 'Citizens wish for the procedure of the petition campaign to be simpler and easier to use', concluded Loránt Vincze.

In the Petitions and Constitutional Affairs Committees Hungarian MEP György Schöpflin and Hungarian MEP from Slovakia Pál Csáky are both rapporteurs on the matter of amending the rules of the Citizen’s Initiatives. Numerous experts and representatives of NGO’s have presented their position on the amendment proposal during the Wednesday afternoon hearing. In the name of the Hungarian Rákóczi Szövetség, legal expert Balázs Tárnok pointed out regarding the petition campaign in Hungary that the signature gathering forms could stand to be less complicated. He also stated that the Minority SafePack Initiative is very important to Hungarians in Hungary and in the neighbouring states alike.