Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-25-Speech-3-057"
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"en.20050525.12.3-057"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President of the Commission, ladies and gentlemen, after what we have just been discussing, which is destructive in its desire to disrupt relations between the institutions, thank heaven we are now going to deal with something constructive and something that is intended to strengthen these relations. This fourth framework agreement between the Commission and Parliament embodies a culture of cooperation in which the role of each institution is respected, whilst at the same time an effort is also made to deepen mutual understanding and cooperation. This is set down in writing in the articles of the agreement.
This is the fourth agreement between the Commission and Parliament. I can say that each successive agreement has seen this House’s role as a ‘Chamber of Citizens’ and hence as a body monitoring the European executive progressively reinforced. This agreement, too, takes us another few steps further down this road, and so I should like to thank the Conference of Presidents and, in particular, Vice
President Wallström and everyone else who played a part in bringing about this framework agreement.
Let me mention some of the key aspects of this fourth framework agreement. For a start, what we have just been debating finds a place in it; it is unequivocal in specifying the political responsibilities of the President and Members of the Commission when conflicts of interest occur. Notwithstanding the Commission’s collegial nature, each of its Members is responsible for what is done in his area of responsibility. That all 25 of the Commission’s members are individually responsible for what they do in their own sphere is a most important principle.
The President of the Commission is responsible for the steps to be taken if Commissioners are involved in conflicts of interest, and for any decisions that need to be taken. There are also clear provisions concerning the procedures to be followed when one Member leaves the Commission and is replaced by another, and indeed there were long drawn
out negotiations on this point. It is clear that a new Commissioner cannot take up office until he has appeared before Parliament, gone through the hearings and been given a vote of confidence by the whole House.
A second set of provisions relates to cooperation on lawmaking and on budgetary decisions. I see that we have managed to ensure that the Commission and Parliament will agree in advance on annual legislative programmes and multi
annual programming, and that the Commission will not make public any legislative or other significant initiatives before notifying Parliament. This is a crucial step in terms of Parliament’s right of codecision on key EU decisions.
Furthermore, Parliament is treated as the Council’s equal in this respect. We will be kept fully informed at every stage of the legislative process, and at the same time as the Council. It has also been agreed that regular dialogue will be established at the highest level, on a three
monthly basis, between the Conference of Presidents and the President of the Commission or the Vice
President responsible for such matters, and it is my belief that this dialogue will result in greater cooperation. The Commission has also agreed to provide information on the composition and work of its expert groups, at the request of the relevant committee. Furthermore, the agreement contains several provisions concerning Parliament’s position at international conferences. The Commission undertakes to keep Parliament’s delegations fully informed of the progress of such conferences, and, wherever possible, to allow them to participate in negotiating delegations. The Commission will also provide backing for Parliament in the field of election observation, and regularly update it on the progress of accession negotiations with candidate countries.
While this agreement does incorporate the Lamfalussy procedure, Parliament would have liked it to go further in this respect, as the relevant provisions apply only to securities, banking and insurance. We would have preferred it to have covered other areas as well, but it would appear that we will have to wait until the next stage of the process for this to happen. Furthermore, Members have expressed a desire for the framework agreement procedure to become more transparent in the future, and for the relevant parliamentary committees to be involved somewhat earlier in the process. All things considered, however, I would recommend this agreement to the House, since it represents real progress. As I said earlier, it symbolises a culture of cooperation that is based on mutual respect and the desire to work constructively towards the EU’s goals. After all, this is what the public and the citizens expect of us."@en1
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