Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-22-Speech-4-015-000"
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"en.20121122.6.4-015-000"2
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"Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, Europe is not a random structure. Europe is a democracy. Our aspiration is to make Europe one of the world’s strongest democracies, and the principle which lies at the heart of every democracy is that all power emanates from the people. Every polity needs strong institutions and strong decision-making, but what matters is that these should be based on the will of the people and how this is achieved. The more successful this is, the stronger the democracy.
Our task today is to ensure that the European elections play a stronger role in deciding Europe’s political future. It is about strengthening the connection between the choice of the voters and the policies adopted and implemented at European level in the years thereafter, and making this connection more visible to citizens.
My question – and it relates to one specific person – is this. Where did this Mr Barroso come from? He was conjured out of the hat after the election, but had never previously been nominated as a candidate for the European Commission. Is this a case where we can say to citizens: ‘We set out the policies very clearly and it was your choice, your decision’? The answer to that is no. Citizens have the sense that they are casting their votes but have no influence over what happens afterwards.
We need to strengthen this connection. At the same time, we must also make it clear that political parties and families have a responsibility to make the European elections genuinely European, instead of misusing them as a means of promoting their own purely national political agendas. They must put up European candidates with European programmes. That is what we are seeking to achieve with this motion for a resolution.
In future, we want the political families, in advance of the elections, to state which candidate they are nominating for the post of Commission President, the most powerful position in our common Europe. To that end, we want them to meet and present their programmes and put a face to their political visions for a common Europe during the elections. All this will help to reinforce legitimacy as well as strengthen political debate about the various positions in Europe.
We want the future Commission President then to be appointed from these lead candidates on the basis of the election results: in other words, he or she should come from the political family that performed best in the elections. We also want at least 50 % of the Commission, in future, to be composed of Members of this House, and we are also calling for a number of other measures to enhance citizens’ influence over the composition of the Commission and therefore also on European policy."@en1
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