Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-05-Speech-4-026"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021205.2.4-026"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, unlike my Liberal fellow-Member, I have not been able, in my capacity as spokesperson of the fourth group in this House, to read the Commission communication in the time available, as I have just discovered that it is 145 pages long, and I congratulate Mr Duff on his ability to speed-read this document!
Mr President, I would like to specifically mention that I welcome the fact that the Commission is at present making a substantial and constructive contribution to the Convention and has presented its views to us here at the appropriate time, because that guarantees that the Commission's contribution can be taken on board in the Convention's work. In January we will be starting work on the actual content of the constitutional treaty, and I am sure that the Commission's proposals will play an important part then.
Mr President of the Commission, I am in agreement with the objectives you mentioned, because this is a matter of making the European Union more democratic, more efficient and more transparent. I specifically welcome the fact that you highlighted the dual nature of the European Union as a union of Member States and a union of peoples, and I think that it is indeed one of the Convention's jobs to make the European Union the first genuinely supranational democracy in the world, as you just called it.
I would very briefly like to mention those points which, on the basis of what you have just said, I support. I have in mind the clear commitment to the Community method, your proposals for enhancing and strengthening the role of Parliament, and the extension of the codecision procedure to all legislative decisions. I support the proposal for the European Parliament to elect the President of the Commission in future, and I also agree with your rejection of the creation of a permanent President of the Council. I also support the proposals for law making that you have just mentioned.
I would like to touch on a problem that you did not mention in your speech, and that is the issue of dividing the treaty into two parts. It is generally assumed that this is connected with the fact that the whole constitutional treaty is to be primary legislation. However, no one has explained yet how that justifies splitting the constitutional treaty into two parts, and the question naturally arises of the different procedures for reviewing points of law stipulated in these two parts of the treaty. That is why I would be interested to know, Mr President of the Commission, whether your proposal today provides for different review procedures in the constitutional treaty. I ask because one thing is clear: under German law it would not be feasible, for example to facilitate adjustments to the ‘second part’ of the constitutional treaty, that is to say if it emerged that the EU was in practice to be given a ‘competence competence’. In other words, it must be clear that the second part of the treaty must also be subject to the ratification procedure by national parliaments in future, in which case, as I have already said, I would be interested to know what the Commission's line is on this."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples