Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-11-Speech-2-037"
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".
Mr President, Mrs Neyts-Uttebroeck, ladies and gentlemen, this has, I feel, been a useful debate which has served to make things clearer. A number of extremely clear messages have emerged which the Commission will take into account, for we have the same objectives and there is a harmonious alliance between Parliament and the Commission. There may have been times when our instruments were slightly out of tune, but we have worked extremely well together.
I have several things to say on this point. I assure you that the Commission has been concentrating explicitly on cooperation with Parliament, and I feel, moreover, that a Commission President has never been present at so many plenary sessions or attended all the committee meetings and meetings of committee chairmen to which he is invited. Each Commissioner stands before the relevant Parliamentary committee on average seven times a year to discuss political issues relating to his or her responsibilities, to his or her portfolio; 80% of subjects are dealt with in plenary by the committee responsible; a record-breaking number of confidential documents has been sent to Parliament; each year, to date, we answer over 3 000 questions from Members of Parliament and dealt with 200 petitions referred to us by the Ombudsman. We are therefore genuinely making an enormous effort to respect our commitment to maintaining a responsible relationship with Parliament. Of course, there are problems
and
areas that need improvement, and it is precisely in order to remedy these that we have reformed our way of working.
Today, I hear people saying, and I know what they mean, that we need more than the political programme; establishing the political programme was a step forwards but it is not enough, for it must go hand in hand with the legislative programme. We are finding it difficult to achieve this, and when we realised that this is what is required, we immediately took steps to establish the legislative programme, albeit with a slight delay. However, we are aware that the driving force of our relationship with Parliament is the political programme, for it is on the political programme that we must work together. People are saying we must not start in February and conclude in November and then let the relationship fall by the wayside. I fully agree with this sentiment. What I would ask, however, is that we be informed of dates for meetings with the committee chairmen a long time in advance; indeed, I assure you that on the few occasions when we were unable to meet, it was because we already had absolutely unbreakable commitments. However, if we establish the schedule together, I am sure we will be able to achieve our aims.
Moving on from the subject of cooperation, I would now like to focus very briefly on the issue of the role of the Commission and of the forthcoming Convention, starting with something which may not appear to be a key point but which I consider to be extremely important, namely that we need to work alongside the Council as regards the Convention’s secretariat. It will be an extremely important time. Of course, the Convention will not take any decisions itself, but it is such an innovative way of working and the fact that it is going to work transparently before our entire continent, before the entire people of Europe, is so significant that it will ultimately acquire huge importance.
I would like to make a further point in this regard as well, the view has been put forward on a number of different occasions that the Commission should be stronger. I, too, am of this opinion, but I would like to look at what we have achieved, although our achievements are sometimes understated and difficult to understand, so to speak. In my opinion, it is the results that count. The Convention did not just appear out of nowhere, it was not presented to us on a plate; the Convention was a working relationship between Parliament and the Commission immediately after Nice, at a time when both institutions were in the deepest despair. It is precisely this work, carried out together, which enabled us to rise again towards the goal which we had lost all hope of achieving. We must acknowledge the substantial help we received from the Belgian Presidency, which really took the project to heart, but it was the Parliament-Commission cooperation which won for us the chance – and I would stress, this is a chance which has never before been available in European history – to reform the institutions by means of a broad, open debate with no time pressure, so that all the European citizens can listen to us and understand what we are talking about. When the European citizens realise that this debate is the debate on the efficient running of the institutions, on unanimous voting or the different vetoes, the debate on the need to proceed with all speed in the interests of serving Europe itself, well, then the significance of this debate will be understood and, indeed, become crystal clear. Our problem was that the decisions were being taken in fora and by bodies whose significance was not understood. Well then, this is the strength of the Commission and the strength of Parliament – patience, and also never losing sight of our primary objectives.
To Mr Swoboda, whose comments were extremely constructive, I would point out that, in terms of the debate we conducted on the basic text, our proposal dates from January 2001 – that is when we made every effort to ensure that the text could, slowly but surely, become the focal point of all our work. 2001 has been a year in which we have redefined the boundaries of our work and outlined the strategy. Certainly, there is a great deal at stake, for our whole future, our entire future, hangs upon the Convention, but we have, at last, taken this debate to the appropriate forum where the citizens will be able to listen to us.
Finally, on a lighter note, with regard to institutional reform, I would like to inform Mr Barón Crespo and the other four group chairmen that I replied to their letters on 5 December and that my response bears the reference number 850511. I therefore feel we need to reform the postal services, although whether those responsible for collecting the mail or those responsible for delivering it, I am not sure. In any case, for my part, I duly replied to the letter, as is my custom."@en1
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