Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-17-Speech-4-044"
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"en.20010517.3.4-044"2
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"Mr President, in line with our Rules of Procedure, I believe that I should first of all indicate that there is a conflict of interest in my case, as I am also treasurer of the Group of the European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party. This is not a financial interest, since the position is unsalaried – exceptionally so, I may say – but nevertheless, this is in any event probably a case of conflict of political interests. However, I am speaking here on behalf of the liberal group, and not on behalf of the European Liberal, Democratic and Reform Party.
The thing that should, of course, stand out in this entire discussion, is the fact that the situation as it is now is really not acceptable. The situation in which the groups are keeping the parties afloat. There was no other way until now. There was no other way around this, but I believe that we all have understood by now, even intuitively speaking, that this situation is untenable. The Court of Auditors has highlighted this, which is to be applauded. Needless to say, nothing has happened in secret. Everything was above board, everyone was able to see that things were done in this way, but it cannot continue like this. As it happens, our groups cannot live on air, and if they do not receive support from general resources, where
that support originate from? Do we want the European political parties to become a plaything of whatever pressure group, be it trade union, businesses or other non-governmental organisations, rich individuals or whoever? It is patently clear that political parties must be able to lead an independent life. If we do not, we will have American-styled practices on our hands, and I would not simply refer to President Bush, but also to the practice of candidates actually only accruing funds instead of pursuing politics. We must never end up in a situation of that kind. We need effectively functioning parties, as Mr Poettering and Mr Barón Crespo already stated very eloquently. Indeed, that is where representative democracy comes into its own. That is the case nationally and even much more so at European level. We need stability in our democracy with a view to enlargement. The new countries which are about to join us are also politically active. They too have political parties which need to feel at home in the existing European political families. Only in that way can we in this Parliament help democracy develop in the future. That is of key importance. Furthermore, we need stability with a view to democratic development in the European Union. We do not know how this will develop, but we cannot rule out that there will come a time when there will be European electoral lists. Someone will then need to put forward these candidates. We cannot rule out that a system can be set up whereby it is possible to become individual members of European political parties. For that too, a proper system will need to be developed to accommodate this.
In addition, it is necessary for those parties to be independent. It is, of course, too crazy for words that the political parties must be financially independent from those elected on behalf of that political party. It should be the other way round. Those who are elected, should be checked out by their political parties. That is how democracy works most effectively, and in that respect, I believe that even the present system can be improved on.
There is more to say on this subject. We very much share the view, of course, that this cannot mean support for national parties. We also agree that the system does not mean that pro-European campaigns are funded with this. We believe that a number of issues still need to be examined, including legal status.
We should examine these aspects further. For example, the aspect of support for political campaigns should be addressed. We can come back to this during the amendment procedure, which will take place in due course, and then we will be able to put the finishing touches to the system."@en1
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