Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-04-Speech-4-037"
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"en.20081204.3.4-037"2
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"Mr President, it is rare for the European Parliament to deal with subjects that have such a far-reaching impact on the peoples of Europe, and even of the world, as the energy and climate change package does. Instead of handling this subject with transparency, however, every effort is being made to secure support for this vitally important package by bypassing Parliament’s usual democratic procedures.
Of course, the competent committees have been able to voice their opinions, but this House has never been able to take up a position, with the result that each Member’s democratic right to amend the Commission’s proposals is destroyed. While enhanced cooperation between the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy was decided on, negotiations took place at an informal trialogue on the basis of the vote held in just one committee. Do I really need to point out that this vote does not necessarily reflect the majority view of Parliament?
Moreover, the positions adopted by the competent committees as a rule exist only in English, thereby preventing many Members from really understanding the extent of the proposed measures. This denial of democracy was justified by Europe’s desire to set the rest of the world a good example at the Poznań Conference. The fact is, this conference will have pulled down its shutters before the Heads of State or Government arrive at an agreement. Mr Borloo is right to stress the need for an agreement at Heads of State or Government level, but we must not dispense with the contribution of Members directly elected by the peoples of Europe.
Parliament will nevertheless be called upon to endorse the compromises negotiated by the Presidency at the next European Council, thereby reducing the codecision laid down in the Treaties to an exercise in style. This is unacceptable. I want an agreement, but not any old agreement. I want an agreement attained with democratic transparency. I hope to see a comprehensive agreement reached in Copenhagen in 2009, but adjustment of the European effort within the framework of this comprehensive agreement cannot take place via comitology, as the Commission proposes and as my fellow Members in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, in particular, want. An ambitious climate change policy, Mr President, cannot be decided on behind closed doors and without the citizens’ knowledge."@en1
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