Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-26-Speech-1-031"
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"en.20050926.11.1-031"2
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".
Mr President, let me begin by joining President Borrell and others who have welcomed our friends from Bulgaria and Romania as observers. This will be a very important step towards helping the final preparations for membership. The Commission will continue to actively assist your efforts and we look forward to working with you. Let me also add that I have followed the reports about the floods and their effects in your countries during the summer. I hope you are aware of the solidarity we feel and know that we will respond to any requests for assistance you may have.
Tomorrow, the Commission will discuss and endorse the results of the screening exercise and put forward the list of legislative proposals it considers should be withdrawn. It is the first time that the whole college has had the opportunity to decide on that. It has been a thorough and extensive exercise and we propose to withdraw about one-third of the 183 pending proposals. This will be done in full respect of the relevant provisions of the revised framework agreement. Pursuant to Article 12 of the framework agreement, Commissioner Verheugen will submit our proposal to Parliament before it is made public – it will be presented here in full tomorrow, immediately after the Commission has discussed it.
With reference to Article 32 of the framework agreement, our proposal, which is a political decision at this stage, is intended as prior notification to the other institutions and, in line with established practice, the legal act of withdrawal will be taken in three months' time. This exercise has been long announced and the Commission has been open both on the methods and the objectives. We do not believe that any of the statements released to the press by individual Commissioners or by the President can be seen as undermining the prerogative of the Commission to act as a college or the commitments made to the other institutions. If you wish, I can provide the full list, detailing the series of occasion when these proposals were presented to this House in different forums – whether in the committees or in the form of decisions.
I accept that there is always scope for improving communication and trust between our two institutions. I would like to reaffirm my personal commitment to keeping this objective high on the Commission agenda. I shall not miss any opportunity to remind colleagues that it is here that proposals should first be presented.
I wish to make two comments, firstly on the Constitution, because it is important for everybody to see the role of the Commission in this matter. From the very beginning, the Commission not only supported the Constitution, but was also actively involved in the work of the Convention. This was discussed every week at the Commission. We continue to support the Constitution. We all agree that it might not be a perfect document, but we support it and we have worked actively on it.
After the negative referendums in France and the Netherlands, we all know it is unlikely that the Constitution will be ratified by all Member States in the foreseeable future. That does not mean that we will not continue to work actively on the political agenda in order to deliver concrete results for the citizens of Europe. The Commission will continue to ensure that we work on our political priorities and deliver on them. We must also use this period of reflection to engage in a dialogue with citizens. This is the only way to ensure that we can gain their full support for a new Constitution. We want to find a common understanding with Member States on the way forward, with the help of the European Parliament. That is why even before the summer we started to draw up what we call 'Plan D' for debate, dialogue and democracy. At our seminar last week, we discussed a number of very concrete ideas on how we could engage in that kind of dialogue with Member States. It has to be a very broad agenda aimed at continuing the dialogue beyond the lifetime of the current Commission or Parliament. This is not only a rescue operation for the Constitution, but must also be a new way of engaging with citizens. President Barroso and I will present our preliminary ideas on this Plan D to the Conference of Presidents on Wednesday. A communication to the Council and Parliament is also being prepared and I hope that a formal version of this will be ready later this week to give you an opportunity to react to it.
Last week President Barroso sent a letter to President Borrell proposing that we identify initiatives where the Commission and Parliament could cooperate and also that our respective services meet as soon as possible to discuss such initiatives.
The best way to overcome the current crisis is to convince Europeans of the relevance of Europe. Therefore, our primary concern is to deliver on our policy priorities. Our objectives of prosperity, solidarity and security are still valid and indeed are more relevant than ever. They are in tune with what people in Europe want when we ask them through the Euro-barometer polls – more and better jobs; preserving social and territorial cohesion; managing the earth's resources in a sustainable way; and reinforcing security in Europe and the world as a whole.
Secondly, on the subject of better regulation, I first of all want to thank Parliament for its cooperation on the signing of a new framework agreement. Since this is my responsibility, I will be taking great care to make sure that we abide by the framework agreement. That is why I have studied the events which prompted criticism and unease on the part of Members of Parliament over the question of better regulation.
Better regulation has been on the agenda of our institutions for a long time. Since 2003, we have been working together on better law-making. An interinstitutional agreement was signed that year, aimed at simplifying and improving Community regulation.
This Commission made a renewed and strong commitment to better regulation at the beginning of its mandate, and better regulation at all levels has also become a central plank of the revised Lisbon Strategy. My colleague, Mr Verheugen, has kept this House regularly informed about the Commission's approach and, having looked at the calendar, I see that there have been at least ten occasions, including the preliminary hearings, on which this House has been informed about the agenda on better regulation, in addition to the general information provided in interviews and on other occasions.
It is a three-pillar approach which includes: screening of pending legislation with a view to withdrawing proposals which do not meet the criteria; the simplification exercise; and the upgrading of methods for preparing new legislative proposals, including impact assessments."@en1
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