in her position as a member of the committee of petitions, werthmann takes a stand for the human rights situation of many petitioners, austrian and european alike. her main focus lies on children, adolescents, visually impaired persons, people affected by “ley de costas” and environmental issues. as leader of the working group concerned with the spanish costal law, she managed to illustrate the situation in cooperation with her colleagues from different member states in a delegation trip to spain with representatives of the spanish government, the local authorities, ngos and the affected people themselves. the “working document on the deliberations of the working group on spanish property rights and the 1988 coastal law, including a fact-finding visit to spain, 21–22 march 2013“ shows the developments concerning the petitions focused on “ley de costas.”