Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-19-Speech-2-292"
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"en.20070619.42.2-292"2
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"Mr President, I really enjoyed hearing the Commissioner say that the Joint Parliamentary Assembly was now a robust organisation. It certainly is. I would like to thank him for his loyal participation in each of the JPAs so far. I would also like to note that the President of Parliament will attend the session next week in Wiesbaden, as did his predecessor, President Borrell, who is now a member of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
This involvement is very important and gives status and importance to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which, as others have said, including Mr Cornillet in his excellent report and presentation, continues to grow and to thrive. That is because it is nurtured by so many committed and active parliamentarians, from the ACP and from this Parliament. We enjoy very active collaboration in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly and, again as Mr Cornillet says, the parliamentary nature of our work has noticeably increased.
We have a wide-ranging agenda and, whatever lists we may wish to make, all our work relates to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which is a binding, contractual agreement between Europe and the ACP member states. The nature of the partnership between all those countries is absolutely unique. What makes it so is the obligation within the Cotonou Partnership Treaty to have this parliamentary dimension. That is something we should be very proud of.
Another important point is that we have worked very hard to improve the ability of parliamentarians from ACP countries to scrutinise the actions of the executive and the governments in their countries. They also have to hold their governments to account, because that is what parliamentarians are meant to do. But, quite frankly, in most of the ACP countries where we have talked and worked with parliamentarians, they are seldom brought into the ambit of the work undertaken by their governments.
The Commission has been somewhat guilty in this respect as well, because in consultations, such as on the country strategy papers, they have had written into the agreements the need for negotiations and consultations with civil society. I have no problem with that; that is very good. On the other hand, parliamentarians are the elected representatives and I would like to see much more engagement by them in programming, in implementation, in monitoring and in evaluation. We also need to urge European national parliaments to scrutinise the European Development Fund. They can help us in that way.
I think that the work of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly has changed over the 13 years I have been a member, and for the better. It used to be the case that it was completely dominated by European parliamentarians. I think all of us here can fairly say that is no longer the case."@en1
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