Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-299"
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"en.20070619.42.2-299"2
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"Mr President, I welcome this report from my colleague Mr Cornillet. It provides a concise and comprehensive summary of the work of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly last year.
The annual report is a good moment to take stock and consider what is working well in the JPA and what could work better. We are answerable to our electors about whether non-legislative bodies, such as the JPA, are good value for money. I would suggest three positive indicators that the JPA is robust, as was said earlier, and that it is earning its keep and increasing in relevance. As the rapporteur said, the involvement of non-state players is a positive development, and so is the growth of fringe meetings. These bring together Members sharing common concerns, for example ACP delegates representing remote and arid areas and MEPs working on climate change. It is in these informal discussions that MEPs and ACP parliamentarians can often work together best.
Secondly, I believe there is a desire on all sides to make the JPA more responsive, more capable of reacting to current events. The rapporteur refers to this in paragraph 17. Of course, there needs to be a structure to debate, but the formal structure of discussions and reports is very drawn out. We need to find ways of making the JPA more immediately engaged and reactive.
That brings me to my third point: the level of participation by members of both houses has sometimes been disappointing. Naturally, the first duty of parliamentarians on both sides is to their own legislatures, so, inevitably, there are diary clashes. I am, therefore, really pleased that the European Parliament is looking at changing its timetable and earmarking some weeks – the new ‘turquoise weeks’ – for external meetings. I hope this will get rid of conflicts of duty on the European side and greatly improve active attendance by the 78 MEPs. This is something we should continue to monitor as the changes to the European Parliament timetable are implemented."@en1
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