Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-108"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20071010.17.3-108"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Like the European Constitution, the Reform Treaty will introduce the principle that a Member State, no matter how small, should have adequate representation and cannot have less than six seats in the European Parliament. Malta, my country, which at the moment has five seats, will increase to six seats. This gain will heal a wound, as it were, that happened no less than seven years ago when in the Treaty of Nice Malta was given five seats instead of six, like Luxembourg, which has the same population.
Six seats instead of five means a 20% increase in representation and it also means that the Maltese Members in this Chamber will be in a better position to perform Parliamentary duties that are always on the increase. Suffice to say that in this House we have more than 20 Parliamentary committees which, with six MEPs, it is very difficult to keep up with. With five it is impossible. These Committees are now preparing laws that bind all citizens including Maltese citizens and it is appropriate that the citizens of each country, even the smallest countries, are in an adequate position, in a good and reasonable position to be represented and heard in each of these committees. Even more so when one considers that under the new Treaty, the European Parliament will increase its powers and will be co-legislator with the Commission, indeed in all sectors.
The minimum threshold of six seats is thus a positive step that will increase the small countries’ faith in the European Union and therefore I believe that we should support the Lamassoure-Severin report."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples