Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-04-Speech-3-168"
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"en.20020904.6.3-168"2
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"The Council considers that the Seville decisions concerning the European Council merely elucidate the relevant provisions of the Treaty on European Union, in particular Article 4, which states that the European Council shall provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its development and shall define the general political guidelines thereof. At a time when the Union’s activities are characterised by increasing development and differentiation, and immediately before major enlargement to include a number of new Member States, the European Council has found it necessary to strengthen the Council’s powers as a provider of guidelines and impetus. This is precisely what the role of the European Council is according to the Treaty. The Council cannot see that these practical guidelines are in any way incompatible with the Commission’s executive powers, which cannot in any way be affected by a decision, the sole purpose of which is to enable the European Council to exercise as effectively as possible the responsibility which the European Council has been given. In this respect, I would point out that the President of the Commission is of course a member of the European Council, and I have not heard any objections to the Council’s trying to reform itself.
As regards any possible democratic deficit and the lack of separation of powers within the Union, the Council considers that the current situation, regardless of what one thinks about it, cannot be affected by a reform the sole purpose of which is, as has already been observed, to implement the existing provisions of the Treaty more effectively. As the question concerning the separation of the executive and legislative powers – whether it is a matter of the principle in general or its application in the Union – has not been discussed as such by the Council, the Council is not in a position to respond to the exact point raised in Question H-O 535. Of course, the Council is not unaware of this classic problem, which is indirectly taken up in the Laeken declaration, for example, adopted by the European Council in December, and which will, in all probability, also be taken up in the Convention and later at the subsequent intergovernmental conference. The honourable Member must understand that, beyond purely academic considerations which do not belong here, the Council cannot comment on the possible outcome of a debate which will not be conducted in the Council itself and which, in any case, has not yet taken place. I hope that, with this explanation, I have made it clear why I cannot go further into the question which has been raised."@en1
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