On the other hand, I've never much liked the EU as a project, and I always opposed my own country's membership. A recent trip to visit the Parliament in Brussels did little to convince me of its fundamental democratic credentials (although I recognize some people there are doing good work, like apparently the Spanish parlamentarian David Hammerstein).
The fact is the European Union isn't waiting for you to support it in order to exist. The EU is a reality on the ground, and we have to live with it. We can take political action to try to get rid of it, or change it into something we prefer, from the understanding that, if we ignore it, it doesn't go away.
So, how can I sign or recommend the petition without fundamentally recognizing the Parliament, when actually I don't? This might actually limit the petition's potential appeal in many countries, at least in "Euro-sceptical" quarters (which in Denmark tend to be the left, and some nationalists - the pattern might be different in other countries).
Without wanting to go into OT, if someone is sufficiently childish to think that their "recognition" of an actually existing institution such as Europarl matters, or that by withdrawing it they can somehow better take charge of their future, they deserve as much political influence and power as they get, zero.
--David.