Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-14-Speech-2-089"
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"en.19990914.4.2-089"2
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"Mr President, the right to approve the Commission goes, by implication, hand in hand with Parliament’s duty to determine the aptitude of future Commissioners for exercising their mandate.
The hearings have been extremely useful. They generally took place in a constructive atmosphere. I would like, nevertheless, to warn Members against any attempt to ape certain practises of the American Congress, particularly its intrusions into the private lives of politicians, both male and female. It is reasonable to require anyone on the political stage to declare his or her interests, but transparency must stop when it reaches the private domain.
The European Parliament is not the holy inquisition, although this idea might not please some of our apprentice Torquemadas whether they are Bavarian or Flemish who did their best to denigrate Philippe Busquin. Flanders is one of the cradles of European civilisation. The Flemish people deserve better than the Vlaams Blok. Having known Philippe Busquin for years, I have full confidence in his personal integrity.
I am also taking up arms against those who seem to want to bring about a political emasculation of the future Commissioners. I do not share Mr Bolkestein’s political ideals, but he is entirely within his rights to remain active within the Liberal International.
Future Commissioners will have to abstain from standing in political elections during their term of office. I hope, though, that they will remain faithful to their political convictions.
No one criticised the excessive number of Commissioners with Socialist allegiances. This fact is perhaps less a reflection of the current political composition of Parliament than of the image of the power held by Socialists across the fifteen Member States. Whatever the reason, the Commission must rise above traditional political divisions. It must, at all costs, remain a College. Even if many MEPs are sorely tempted to judge the Commissioners individually, the Treaty requires – and quite rightly so – a vote for the whole body.
The Treaty also gives the Commission the only right of initiative relating to the administration of Europe. An attempt to change this would mean turning the Commission into a merely executive body. It is in Parliament’s interest to defend the Commission’s powers and particularly its right of initiative, without which the power of national governments and bureaucracies would become overwhelming. Parliament has nothing to gain from neutralising the Commission’s powers.
The hearings showed that the Prodi Commission wants to co-operate with Parliament, to take note of our suggestions and of our legislative work. When they appeared before the Economic and Monetary Committee, Commissioners Monti and Solbes laid down bases, solid bases for future collaboration. Be that as it may, the Commission and its Commissioners should be judged on their political action. What President Prodi gave us this morning was a preliminary sketch. I hope that we will be able to see, by the beginning of the year 2000, a much larger portrait of Europe."@en1
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