Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-08-Speech-4-023"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080508.3.4-023"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, Parliament’s working group on reform has been in Washington to study the US Congress.
We saw how all lobbyists have to register their function and their income from their different clients. It is mandatory in the US and Canada and not voluntary, as the Commission proposes. We also saw how each member of Congress documented their budget, including every paid cup of coffee. If they can do it, why cannot we? Why cannot we be fully transparent with our secretarial allowances in the EP, and then demand transparency in the other institutions?
At the last meeting of the Conference of Presidents we became aware of organised lobbyism in our own House. In a very big and nice room on the fifth floor of the Spinelli building, 28 multinational companies have their own office, the telephone numbers and e-mail addresses paid for by Parliament. This may be a very good scheme linking companies to MEPs, but no one presented this proposal for us; it was established behind our backs.
The views of the small and medium-sized companies are missing; the views of the consumers, trade unions, green organisations are missing. It may be a good idea to rent facilities to lobbyists, but then everyone should be invited and an elected board could supervise the activities.
Multinational companies are not those who most need our financial support. Support for the scheme has been hand-picked and not elective from the political groups. This is the latest lobbyist scandal I hope you will redress.
This is my last political speech in the European Parliament. If I may have one wish, it will be for the adoption of the proposal from the Convention signed by 23 governments and every single member from the national parliaments, every MEP except one: make all documents and meetings open unless you decide a grounded derogation. This simple proposal will also solve most problems that bias lobbyism.
We would then be able to see what they write to us or to the Commission and we would take part in the decisions on derogations from transparency, so we would know what is hidden from us and why. We need the lobbyists to raise and improve the laws. We need their knowledge and advice and counter-arguments from other interests. We need balanced or pluralist information since we were elected to serve all citizens equally."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples