Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-12-Speech-2-154"
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"en.20010612.8.2-154"2
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"Mr President, during the formal and informal debate on this issue over the last few weeks and months, both the Commission and the Council have indicated that it is not the business of the European Parliament to stick its nose into the substance of WTO cases. I broadly agree. The Council and the Commission have also indicated that they think it is none of the European Parliament's business to issue awkward declarations on issues which are basically
. Again, under normal circumstances, I would agree. But I would ask the Council and the Commission to tell me what we are supposed to do when we ask both of them in committee several times for justifications of how and why the decision was taken to launch this highly sensitive case and we get no more than a mere technocratic response.
What are we supposed to do when we are told the decision was taken over lunch, not even by ministers, but over lunch in some obscure Council working group without any minutes to justify to the public or, indeed, to politicians such as ourselves, why the EU is launching yet another politically sensitive trade dispute?
What strikes me is the sheer naivety of both the Commission and the Council in tackling such a highly political issue as if it were nothing more than a technical decision. It is simply inconceivable that the US Administration in Washington would rush headlong into yet another trade dispute with the EU without first ensuring there is a minimum of political backing in Congress. I find it very striking that both the Commission and the Council have failed to do that this time.
It has been suggested that those who have signed this hotly worded declaration were behaving irresponsibly. Some Members of this Parliament feel it was irresponsible. It is surely much more irresponsible to launch such a politically and commercially sensitive trade dispute without even a ritual nod towards the normal standards of transparency and political probity. It is not an issue of reforming Article 133. It is simply expecting both the Commission and the Council to conduct trade policy, particularly on politically sensitive issues, in a more transparent and politically intelligent manner."@en1
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