Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-03-13-Speech-2-191"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010313.13.2-191"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, Mr Marinho, I am very pleased that this report is before us today. I would like to thank you very much for preparing a subject which at first seems very technical, but which, as you quite rightly stressed, has a very substantial part to play in creating a citizens' Europe, because cross-border business is on the increase. We have a European single market, we have a single European currency, and we will soon have the coins and notes of that currency in our pockets. Because of e-commerce, we will see exponential growth in cross-border contracts, and it is a sad fact that problems sometimes arise with contracts, resulting in legal disputes.
The taking of evidence is generally at the heart of any legal dispute, as matters of law are often easy to settle, but there are often widely varying interpretations when it comes to the facts. If it is necessary to determine the facts of a case which took place in another Member State, then the present situation as regards mutual legal assistance is simply anachronistic, and involves using the Hague Convention through diplomatic channels, making matters very complicated and time-consuming, and also unreliable. A court case often comes to a standstill quite simply because the facts of the case cannot be established, and quite simply because the resources for mutual legal assistance are not available. That is why it is so important that the Federal Republic of Germany has brought forward this proposal, and that is why my group is so firmly supporting this initiative, because it provides for greater certainty, swifter administration of the law and, last but not least, greater justice for the citizens of the European Union.
This legal instrument will also help to counter a trend which I view with increasing scepticism. By that I mean the tendency to resort to extrajudicial dispute resolution, that is to say bringing in a neutral arbitrator instead of going to court, or letting some kind of board of arbitration make a ruling. This is actually a trend that runs counter to the idea of the constitutional state. This is a trend, and I am happy to say so in this Chamber, which also runs counter to parliamentary democracy, because our system is, in fact, designed on the assumption that parliaments make laws and an independent judiciary apply those laws. Anything that represents a deviation from these procedures is at odds with the original concept of the constitutional state which all of us here have in our sight.
If we can make cross-border legal relations easier, then we also make it easier for companies and individual citizens to operate within systems guaranteed by the State. The single market needs an efficient legal system, failing which all our efforts to create competition and increasing prosperity in the European Union will come to nothing.
By way of conclusion, I must confess that it makes me feel somewhat uneasy that we keep having to consider initiatives from Member States here. I can be particularly forthright in saying that in this particular case, because this initiative emanates from my own country. I find it embarrassing that we in the European Parliament are not in a position to present such initiatives, and this report should also make us think once again about whether the European Parliament should not have a right of initiative, particularly in this area, which is such a sensitive one in the public's eyes."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples