Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-27-Speech-4-017-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20111027.5.4-017-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the image that EU citizens have of the EU is one of enormous and inaccessible bureaucracy, and it is difficult to dispel that image. When we talk about making 2013 the ‘Year of the Citizens’ there is a fair chance that it will become farcical. In other respects, we have made huge strides in enabling the participation of citizens, first and foremost with our Ombudsman, whose annual report we are grateful for, and we are today debating Ms Iotova’s splendid report. I would like to thank her and my fellow Members for the fact that we can indeed be very proud of this report.
The thinking behind the legislative amendments concerning administration is clear: the EU’s administration must be for the benefit of citizens. It is the citizens who must have confidence in the system, and it must be their experience that it works. We have laid down requirements concerning sound administration in the Charter, making it mandatory for the EU institutions, and we have improved the legal basis for public access to documents, so that the already splendid Regulation (EC) No 1047 can be even better. The problem is simply that important elements of the Commission and the Council do not want to play ball. For them, it is still the task of the administration to protect the people in power from the citizens. In 2008, we experienced disastrous opposition to the improvements to Regulation (EC) No 1041, and it will probably be a battle to get the Commission to propose the legislation that we need concerning sound administration. If it is to be secure/safeguarded, we must have legislation on this. This is also stated in paragraph 29 of the report.
The fact that most complaints received by the Ombudsman concern the Commission does not inspire confidence, and it is worrying – and this is something that I have to say to the Commissioner – that the number of these complaints is rising. After all, the Commission is central to the EU. It is the Commission that is supposed to ensure that the EU develops in accordance with European values and it also has the exclusive right to table legislative proposals. On that basis, it is alarming that prominent officials in fact believe that the Commission should still protect itself from the citizens. I have heard of one prominent official from the Directorate-General for the Environment who did not even want to grant access to the infringement procedures once a case was closed because he believed that it could harm confidence within the system. No, it is the citizens who must have confidence in us, not the other way round! That is the way the system should work. This is not a question of culture. There is not a Nordic culture of openness and a southern culture of corruption. Am I permitted to be here? A culture of openness is something that we should have everywhere. Our Ombudsman is Greek, and we cannot say that the people in the south do not go in for openness.
Lastly, allow me to ask the Ombudsman to pay attention to one thing in the budget that we are talking about. What does it cost for the Ombudsman to be based in Strasbourg – a long way from his work – instead of being based where he works? I would like to ask the Ombudsman to give us clear figures so that we can see what we could save if we moved him close to his work."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples