Members of the National Assembly for Wales's Petitions Committee will be visiting The European Parliament's Committee on Petitions (PETI) this week, as part of their review into petition arrangements in the Assembly.
The review will consider how improvements can be made to the current admissibility criteria, the way in which admissible petitions are dealt with and how the Assembly's Standing Orders and other systems might need to change to support any recommendations.
Assembly Members will participate in the European Parliament's Committee's session on "Right to petition", and will see what lessons might be drawn from its procedures, before meeting the Chair of Committee on Petitions, Cecilia Wikström MEP and her officials.
Committee Chair William Powell AM said:
"Since 2007 around 900 petitions have been submitted, of which more than 600 admissible petitions have been referred to the National Assembly for Wales's Petitions Committee.
"We are constantly reviewing our system and hope to learn more from our visit about the European Parliament's approach to and philosophy of petitions, as well as the actions taken on petitions and the operational process that they undertake in Brussels."
Later in the week members of the National Assembly for Wales's Enterprise and Business Committee will also be in Brussels for meetings on European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), transport, the Greek crisis, and the maritime economy, as well as visiting the European Investment Bank HQ in Luxembourg for a series of meetings with officials to discuss opportunities for Wales from European Investment Bank investments, including European Fund for Strategic Investments.