Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-11-18-Speech-4-037"
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"en.20041118.6.4-037"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, ladies and gentlemen, the European Parliament has just adopted, and by a very, very large majority, a resolution which – I am firmly convinced – represents further progress towards a more parliamentary European Union. It is clear from this convincing result that this House is united in its desire to work constructively with the Commission while also exercising its parliamentary and democratic control over it.
On this we will insist, and – in view of the widely divergent conduct of the members of the former Commission in their dealings with this House – we will be very vigilant to see that this is actually done.
Your strategic programme will be very important, and we expect you to present it in January. In an earlier resolution, the Conference of Presidents had in fact decided that, had the process not been delayed, we would have had a debate in November, in this part-session, on what this House’s expectations of this are. We have now decided that the House will set out its principles in a resolution in December. It is then that you can, and must, not only take note of Parliament’s positions, but also bring them and the Commission’s strategic programme into line.
Let me also say that our group finds it regrettable that the motion on subsidiarity tabled by the Union for Europe of the Nations Group was not adopted. It is our contention that, where Europe has the competence to act, it must do so, with strength and reason, but it must not claim every task and role for itself; there are still the municipalities, the districts, the regions, and the nation states. Each of these four levels has its own tasks to perform, and that is why we adhere to the principle of subsidiarity.
Let me conclude by saying that our group will, today, be united in expressing our confidence in you. While being alongside you, we will express criticisms in a positive way, but will also be determined to exercise our right of parliamentary control, and so, with that in mind, we wish you, Mr President, and your college of Commissioners, all the best and every success for the next five years.
Our resolution expresses a desire for a good working relationship between the Commission and this House. The Commission and Parliament need to regard each other, in principle, as allies, and that not only because of the attitude of some governments. Necessary though it is that this House should monitor the Commission, we would have you know, Mr President of the Commission, that we are, in principle, always shoulder to shoulder with it, for it is an important European Union institution. When acting as the guardian of the Treaties and watching over adherence to the law, you will always have us, the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, at your side.
As you mentioned in your response, we want to implement the content of this resolution in the form of a framework agreement with you, just as we had done with the Prodi Commission, and we should start working on that together soon. It will then be for Mrs Wallström, as the future Vice-President, to continue the work of her remarkable predecessor Mrs de Palacio, with whom we negotiated the framework agreement.
What is very important is what we have resolved as regards the confidence that we place in the members of the Commission or deny them, and, if Parliament adopts a motion of no confidence in one of them, it is then that you, Mr President of the Commission, must give serious thought – as is already stated in the agreement with the Prodi Commission – as to whether you should dismiss him or her. If you do not do as this House demands, then you must appear before it to justify yourself, and that, in parliamentary terms, represents an advance over the situation that existed before.
At no time in the course of the next five years must your Commission include among its members anyone who has not gone through the parliamentary process. If changes are made in the Commission, for whatever reason, we insist that every new member of the Commission should undergo hearings in this House. That is what it says in the resolution, and we are going to make sure that it is in the framework agreement.
It is good to see the whole college of the Commission here, and what we expect of you throughout your mandate is that you should always give an account of yourselves to Parliament whenever it – through the plenary, its committees, or any other of its bodies – so demands. When Parliament summons you, your presence before it takes precedence over all other commitments you may have made, and that is important, for it is to Parliament that you are responsible."@en1
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