Deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2024.

Mr. President, Madam Commissioner,

I, too, concur with the speakers before me that we are carrying out work of great significance and utility, and I also wish to thank the other political groups for their contributions. I would like to congratulate both the rapporteurs and the shadow rapporteurs on their efforts here, and I extend special thanks for having accepted our amendment on sign languages. This amendment emphasizes that deaf and hard-of-hearing persons must be ensured the right to use sign language within institutions and during official procedures.

However, I find it unacceptable that the annual report failed to include the research service’s study, which presented clear conclusions regarding the situation of Europe’s indigenous minorities. We discussed this study in January 2024, therefore it constituted an important part of our annual work. By omitting it, we are repeating the same mistake as the Commission, which recently dismissed the will of 1.2 million EU citizens by rejecting their legislative initiative concerning the protection of national regions.