Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-04-Speech-2-207"
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"en.20060404.22.2-207"2
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".
Madam President, directives and regulations all make up the law that is perhaps the main thing that our citizens see or feel as a result of our activities. Law is, as it were, our main product. But lawmaking, especially at a European level, is a process – a lengthy process – not an end point. This continuum is well represented by the various reports that we are discussing today. There are the Doorn and the Frassoni reports, one focusing on lawmaking and subsidiarity, the other on monitoring the application of the law. But our citizens should be at the beginning, the end and at the heart of this process, helping us set the agenda, lobbying and informing us as we make decisions and overseeing how the results work.
The Doorn report has a special focus on the use of impact assessments. This is really welcome. But we have to take care. Impact assessment cannot displace political decision making. Of course, we need full and independent information from all sides on all aspects, not just the effects on business. Then we as co-legislators can decide, but it must be our decision, not that of experts, nor of technocrats, stakeholders or lobbyists. Give us all the information in a balanced manner, then, in full transparency, we can make a political decision for which we are accountable. No number of impact assessments or re-impact assessments should replace democracy.
Let me turn to one of the main preoccupations of the Committee on Petitions. It is perhaps the committee in this House that is most in touch with our citizens. They come to us when the law is not working. The job of the Petitions Committee is to help citizens highlight the problems with implementation and monitoring of EU law. This work should be given a much higher profile and recognition, especially in the Commission’s annual report. For the umpteenth time, the Petitions Committee has emphasised the need for the Commission’s infringement proceedings to be more robust and we welcome, therefore, the proposals made by Mrs Frassoni in this respect. I was also pleased to hear the comments on implementation made by President Barroso.
We have also underlined the place of our citizens in the lawmaking process. Many of us would like to see them have a role in initiating law, as foreseen by the European citizens’ initiative in the draft Constitutional Treaty; but sadly, probably, this is a matter for another day. But we could at least ensure that our citizens understand what we are doing in their name. There seems to be broad support for the proposition that each directive and regulation should be prefaced by a non-legally binding citizens’ summary. In short, let us have legislation that is accessible in its form, the way we make it and the way we enforce it."@en1
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