Lisbon Treaty: one million signatures for a bill "Citizens’ participation in the decision-making process is crucial for democracy. The Lisbon Treaty will offer a new opportunity to citizens to influence the EU agenda". Margot Wallstrom, vice-president of the European Commission presented the public consultation aimed at "defining the practical details of the Citizens’ Initiative envisaged in the Treaty that will come into force December 1st. This reform will enable one million citizens to request the Commission to bring forward a particular policy proposal. The online public consultation is based on the "Green Paper" that gives "an overview of practical issues for the Initiative’s implementation." "It will help define for example the number of countries from which people must come, how to check that signatures are real, what form a petition should take etc", Wallstrom said. "Citizens, experts, and researchers’ contributions are welcome and can be submitted by filling out the Green Paper form available in the 23 official languages" by logging on http://europa.eu/documentation/. The deadline for reply is the end of January 2010. Then the Commission will submit a regulation proposal for EU Parliament and Council adoption. EU-Russia: The EP points to human rights Finding those responsible for the murders of journalists and human rights defenders and “not using the judicial system as a political tool”. These are the two major conditions set by the European Parliament for the prosecution of negotiations aimed at defining EU-Russia partnership. The Assembly adopted a resolution exhorting the Council and the Commission “to develop relations with Moscow” with pragmatism (with evident reference to European interests for Russian energy sources), provided that “the new agreement on economic issues provides for the safeguard of human rights”. The blueprint refers to the EP’s decision to award the 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the Russian civil rights defence organisation Memorial. MEPs condemn the recent “assassinations” of Anna Politkovskaya, Natalia Estemirova, Andrei Kulagin, Zarema Sadulayeva, Alik Dzhabrailov, Maksharip Aushev, Stanislav Markelov, Anastasiya Baburova, whose murderers “must be found and brought to justice”. MEPs welcomed the “interesting” ongoing EU-Russia dialogue on “further visa liberalization” and urged for greater cooperation as relates to illegal migration, along with “increased borders control and exchange of information on terrorism and organized crime”. The resolution that was voted in view of the EU-Russia summit of November 18 in Stockholm includes items pertaining to climate change, the Middle-East peace process, the missile shield. Finally, “the frozen conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria and Georgia should also be addressed with joint EU-Russia initiatives”, MEPs said.Alzheimer and Parkinson, uniting forces for research During the EP plenary meeting a plan to counter Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases received the backing of MEPs that adopted the proposal of launching “The European Year of the Brain”. The aim is to “raise awareness of brain-related diseases associated with ageing and prevention”. All political groups gave the green light to a document requesting Member States “to develop a common research agenda in the field of neurodegenerative diseases”, that “over 7 million European citizens suffer from”. The resolution highlights the importance of stepping up research on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease focusing also on prevention and early diagnosis, “collecting epidemiological data with transnational cooperation while promoting healthy lifestyles and raise-awareness of brain-related diseases”. MEPs pointed out social problems and issues linked to the “future sustainability of national health systems” and recalled that in 2005 health-costs for dementia-related diseases in EU-27 amounted 130 million euro”.
