Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-13-Speech-2-520-000"
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"Mr President, I will do my best to react as quickly as possible to the three reports, which have been presented to the plenary, and also to Mr Szpunar’s remarks on behalf of the Polish Presidency.
As I am sure we will discuss later today, petitions to Parliament are key in identifying citizens’ concerns. The annual report analyses in detail the nature of petitions and gives concrete examples where they have also triggered infringement procedures. In order to improve the follow-up to complaints, we have set up an effective complaint registration system. I am confident that the system meets the concerns previously spelled out by Parliament and the Ombudsman. It allows the rapid treatment of incoming complaints and gives swift information to the complainants about any major step decided by the Commission.
The Lisbon Treaty has strengthened the role of the Commission with regard to the late transposition of directives by the Member States. In 2010, the Commission explained publicly the concrete ways in which it will apply these new powers. This was communicated to the other institutions as well. We are confident that this contributes to putting further pressure on Member States to improve their performance in this field.
Last but not least, Ms Sargentini’s report clearly shows the importance of public access to documents as a central element of the transparency of the work of the institutions. The report contains useful suggestions which the Commission will duly take into consideration. In particular, the Commission agrees that the information should be made available to the public in a proactive manner whenever possible. The Commission has already made significant efforts in this respect. For example, information and documents on comitology committees and on expert groups are available through dedicated websites. The Commission also provides information on beneficiaries of EU funds, both under central and shared management, and for the latter, information on beneficiaries of funds is accessible through a portal providing links with national websites.
Of course, the Commission shares Parliament’s wish to improve the interoperability of the public registers, and we still have a lot of work to do on this, but the Commission takes note of the rapporteur’s comments concerning the ongoing legislative procedure on a recast of the access to documents regulation.
However, this debate cannot replace the ongoing legislative process. In this regard, let me underline that our proposal for a recast does not reduce the level of transparency. Our estimation is that the same number of requests for access would be granted. Our proposal merely aims at clarifying a number of provisions and at facilitating the application of the regulation. The Commission agrees with the rapporteur that some changes to the regulation are made necessary by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, most importantly, the extension of the citizen’s right to access the documents of all EU institutions and bodies. This would include, for example, the European Council and the EAS.
For this reason, the Commission decided last March to submit a second proposal to align the existing regulation to the Treaty. Our objective with the second proposal is to give citizens the rights the Treaty has created for them, and to do so as quickly as possible without waiting for the conclusion of the discussions on the wider recast proposal. The Commission therefore invites Parliament and the Council to adopt quickly the proposal aligning the regulations to the Treaty and, in parallel, we will continue our discussions on the wider recast proposal. We look forward to relaunching the legislative process.
In this context, debate should focus on the core issues, such as the definition of the ‘space to think’ within the institutions and the balance between the protection of personal data and the right of access to documents, which have been rightly highlighted by the rapporteur. Other issues such as classification rules or historical archives should not be addressed in this context, but rather in specific fora.
To conclude, I would like to repeat the Commission’s appreciation of these three reports, which contain very useful observations and suggestions. I now look forward to deepening this debate with you and I thank you in advance for your remarks.
First, I would like to state my clear appreciation of the three reports that we are debating today. It is important that the institutions work together on these topics, which are so important if we want to make EU legislative and political action more transparent, more accessible and more useful for citizens.
As for better legislation, subsidiarity and proportionality, and smart regulation, I am very happy to learn that Mr Karim’s report supports our agenda and underlines the shared responsibility of the EU institutions in this area. Smart regulation is a key priority for the Commission and we have an ambitious smart regulation agenda with clearly defined priorities. The Commission remains committed to further improving the quality of its initiatives and to evaluating existing legislation, as well as continuing to reduce administrative burdens and simplifying wherever possible.
For example, the Commission is on track to exceed its target of 25% of administrative burden reductions by 2012. We now need to ensure that this translates into concrete benefits for businesses through the adoption of relevant legislation by the Council and Parliament and by effective implementation in the Member States. The delivery of this target by 2012 must be our common priority within a broader approach to legislation to make it more efficient and effective. To this end, we also make thorough use of impact assessments in the Commission.
Another key tool in this new approach will be the systematic ex-post evaluation of the legislation. The Commission has therefore merged its efforts to reduce administrative burdens with those to simplify and to evaluate legislation.
Finally, the Commission welcomes an open discussion on the responsibility of the three institutions in delivering smart regulation. We need to ensure that all three institutions show a commitment to making real progress. They should start by making the best use of existing instruments. Therefore, the Commission calls for the full implementation of the current interinstitutional agreement on better law making.
Turning now to the application of EU law, I would first like to thank Members for the preparatory work on our annual report on the monitoring of the application of EU law. As the current interinstitutional talks on correlation tables demonstrate, the Commission and Parliament attach great importance to the current application of EU law. I appreciate the opportunity to have an exchange of views on a regular basis on this subject.
I would also like to use this opportunity to thank the Polish Presidency and Mr Szpunar for his personal involvement and commitment to resolving the issue we are discussing now concerning correlation tables and explanatory information from the Member States to the Commission so that we can do our work better in the future.
With regard to the issues raised in Ms Lichtenberger’s report, I would like to highlight the following points. In 2007, we announced that we would improve and intensify our collaboration with the Member States. Therefore, in 2008, we introduced the EU Pilot project and I am happy to say that nearly all Member States are participating. This instrument is an early-warning and problem-solving tool vis-à-vis Member States in many cases. It does not replace the infringement procedure but helps to resolve a lot of cases. Those that cannot be resolved are, of course, put into the infringement procedure. The EU Pilot gives full and quick effect to Union law for the benefit of citizens and businesses."@en1
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