Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-11-Speech-2-144"
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"en.20020611.8.2-144"2
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"Madam President, in the Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado report on the European elections procedure, attention is drawn to a large number of points that are important for an effective, decisive and controllable Europe. Unfortunately, the actual Council proposal which we need to agree on still contains a number of items that leave room for improvement. Parliament has in any case expressed its thoughts on the matter.
The European elections have in recent years consistently been typified by a low turn-out. In my own country, the Netherlands, the turn-out in 1999 was only 30%. In other countries, the situation was similarly disappointing. In order to boost the numbers in 2004, the elections must in any case become a great deal more exciting and more political. The citizen must have the sense that by casting their vote, they can leave their mark on European policy and on the solution to the problems that are crying out for European cooperation, including asylum, food safety and the environment. This should, firstly, be done by allowing Parliament to appoint the President of the European Commission on the basis of the results of the elections. This is why in the report, all European political parties are urged to make their candidates known for this position well beforehand. This gives the candidates a human face, makes them known and ultimately, brings the Commission closer to the people.
The day on which the elections are held is also extremely important in connection with identifying with the European project. Only when we all vote on the same day will the people have the sense that they are voting for one and the same political body. Most countries already vote on the same day, namely Sunday. It is regretful that a limited number of countries, including Ireland, the UK and my own country, the Netherlands, do not go to the ballot boxes on the same day as other European Member States – namely Sunday – and that the sense of excitement is thus lost. The reason is that apparently, we do want to open the supermarkets for commerce on Sundays, but if respect for democracy is at stake, the Netherlands is not interested. I would therefore make an appeal to put respect for democracy before commercial interests in the Netherlands and go to the ballot box on Sunday.
Finally, I mooted the idea in the Netherlands last week to have the national Commissioner of the European Commission directly elected by referendum. It is, in my view, an outmoded notion that such an important, politically recognisable figure should be appointed behind closed doors by government representatives. This is why I call for a referendum that coincides with the Parliament elections in 2004, where direct votes can be cast for a candidate. This idea is naturally not only for Dutch purposes, but also for other European countries. I hope that my fellow MEPs are willing to think this through very carefully, as I believe this to be an interesting idea."@en1
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