Electronic petitioning and modernisation of petitioning systems in Europe

In recent years, electronic petition systems have found widespread use. They ensure both the publication of petition texts and the collection of supporting signatures. Moreover, advanced systems enable online discussions concerning the respective petition. Parliaments and governments are making increasingly use of this instrument of political participation and protection of the citizens' interests vis-à-vis the executive power. At the turn of the millennium, the Scottish parliament was one of the pioneers with regard to parliamentary petition portals. The active participation of citizens in the entire petitioning process was one of the guiding principles of the Scottish e-petition system which attracted attention worldwide and has been taken up elsewhere. Since 2005, the Scottish model has been adopted and further developed by the German Bundestag. In many European parliaments, reform processes regarding the modernization of petitioning systems can be observed. On behalf of the German Parliament, the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag has examined the functional change of the parliamentary petition system in Germany in the course of the introduction of public electronic petitions and has shown a differentiated picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the currently applied system. The view of the German situation is complemented by a country study regarding the petitioning systems applied in Great-Britain including the Scottish one. The volume is completed by an overview of the petitions procedures provided by the European national parliaments and ombudsman institutions.