EP answers are a selection of answers to frequent questions and concerns of citizens who have addressed them to the European Parliament.
Citizens from all over Europe write to the European Parliament to express their opinion on how the Parliament and the EU should (or should not) act. Many of these messages are treated by a department called the Citizens’ Enquiries Unit, or in short: Ask EP.
Service for citizens
Ask EP launched the EP answers in 2014 on the EPRS blog with the aim of making information on recurrent issues (based on answers that have been sent in reply to individual citizen’s enquiries) available to the wider public. EP answers is a citizen-tailored service, which complements the EPRS studies and analyses, written and published by EPRS experts.
The Ask EP service provides information on the activities, powers and organisation of the European Parliament. Often this means that we help to explain the complex EU decision-making process and to clarify the responsibilities of and interactions between the different EU institutions, and between national and EU levels.
Broad spectrum of questions and answers
The thematic scope of EP answers is as broad as the spectrum of questions that Ask EP receives. The topics of citizens’ enquiries range from international conflicts (e.g. Ukraine-Russia) and trade agreements (e.g. TTIP) to cross-border issues (e.g. migration) to hands-on questions (e.g. pension rights) and concrete institutional aspects (e.g. MEPs’ activities, EP’s three workplaces). Sometimes a specific event (e.g. changing of the clocks) motivates citizens to send a message to the Parliament. This list is far from exhaustive.
Citizens’ messages often refer to issues that are constantly evolving; so Ask EP also publishes updated EP answers on ‘hot topics’, such as the negotiations on TTIP.
All EP answers close with the words: ‘Do you have any questions on this issue or another EP-related concern? Please use our web form. You write, we answer.’
In this spirit we would like to encourage you: Keep writing to us. We will keep answering you.
