Citizens Hour

European Parliament

Hello Citizens of the EU,

Did you know that each EU country has Members of the European Parliament? A country can have between 6 to 96 MEPs, depending on the population of your country. And they are important! Why, you may ask.

They are representatives of your country at European Union level. You vote for your MEPs. MEPs vote on European legislation. European legislation is binding across the whole of the European Union. MEPs can have a real impact on the drafting and amendment of European legislation.

MEPs divide their time between their work in the European Parliaments in Brussels and Strasbourg, and their home constituencies. All MEPs work away from their constituency from Monday to Thursday. They return to their district on Friday and throughout the weekend.

The next election of MEPs is this May 2014. They all are already preparing for the election with campaigns, speeches, appearances, etc.

EUD has been working to make the campaign accessible for Deaf citizens like you. Until the election, we are personally asking MEPs to make their media outlets accessible. You can see on our website which MEPs we have met and which of them are respecting our requests of accessibility for Deaf people.

Did you know that every MEP hosts regular citizen hours in their home constituency? It is an opportunity for local people to attend and hear what the MEP has to say, as well as ask questions.

We, the EUD, have requested that their citizen hours be accessible for you by having a sign language interpreter, speech-to-text-reporter, or other suitable reasonable accommodations. We ask YOU to be proactive and ask them hard questions. If you have a burning question, this is your chance to be heard at EU level. Show that we, the Deaf people, mean it when we ask for equality.

We will do the same. If you want, we may supply you with questions we have created for you to choose and ask your MEPs. For dates of when your MEPs are hosting their citizen hour, please see link below.

Greens/EFA: http://www.greens-efa.eu/questions-and-answers-session-11068.html