Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-09-24-Speech-3-063"
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"en.20030924.1.3-063"2
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"Mr President, an amendment which I with others tabled to this report called for confirmation of the dual nature of the Union in which nation states are the predominant component. All too often European citizens do not feel that this is actually the case. In fact, they feel as though their national identity is being forgotten. There are many ways in which this can be rectified and I personally feel the Convention could and should have gone further in this area. However, on a practical level, I believe it is essential for MPs and MEPs to work more closely together to ensure the correct transposition of legislation.
Gold plating is a phenomenon which affects every Member State to a greater or lesser extent. In the UK it is particularly harmful, harmful to our agriculture for instance. The Abattoirs Directive left the Commission as a twelve-page document, was reduced by the French to a manageable seven pages and expanded by the British to an unreadable ninety-five pages. Sadly, there are many other examples of gold plating in the fields of business and industry.
So why does gold plating affect the UK more than any other Member State? One important reason is because the UK, unlike other states, does not involve MPs in the transposition process. Belgium has a Federal Advisory Committee on European Affairs, made up jointly of MPs and MEPs. The German and Greek legislatures have similar arrangements. As an MEP who has been an MP in the UK, I now realise how little my colleagues and I knew about the regulations coming from Europe.
The problems have deteriorated under the present British Government as it reduced the powers of our House of Commons. The way forward is for joint committees of members of national parliaments and MEPs to oversee the transposition of legislation into national law in every Member State. This would be a small but significant step in the right direction and, by increasing cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament, it would allow national MPs a real say in the workings of our Union."@en1
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