Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-11-22-Speech-4-058-000"
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"en.20121122.8.4-058-000"2
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"Madam President, I would like to begin my speech, at the end of this dossier, by taking this opportunity to thank everyone who helped to make this Omnibus II report a report that the Committee on International Trade could discuss and vote on with no problems, and I hope that the same will now apply to the vote in Parliament as well. My sincere thanks go to the shadow rapporteurs, the committee secretariat, and also the secretariat of our Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D Group), which always gave us outstanding support. I would particularly like to thank the member of staff responsible in my own office. These activities create a heavy workload, and I think it is important, for once, to recognise this with thanks and give credit where it is due.
Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Parliament’s rights of codecision now apply to the area of trade policy as well, and we are already witnessing the benefits of this for trade policy itself. However, it also means that various items of legislation must be amended, with the old comitology procedure being translated into a new procedure. The Omnibus I and Omnibus II reports have ensured that matters previously dealt with in the comitology procedure can now dealt with through delegated and implementing acts. Omnibus I focused on implementing acts. Omnibus II, my report, deals with delegated acts. Of course, we cooperated very closely in order to achieve a good result.
What has happened now, however? We wanted to enter into negotiations with the Council in order to bring the matter to a swift conclusion. The Council is doing nothing. The Council is not here. Its seat, as usual, is empty. The Council has taken no further decision and its position on this issue, which concerns legal technicalities, is the same as it always is on major issues. It stalls on issues where it really should be providing impetus and moving things forward. That is to say nothing of the budget, where we are experiencing incredible difficulties. However, it is a mirror image of what has happened with Omnibus as well. Let me say this, even though this is not directly related to the matter at hand: if we continue to have a situation in which national egotism and the vanity of the heads of state and government massively impede normal operations here, we will face major difficulties. There are already murmurings in some Member States about a return to a national currency or the introduction of a ‘northern euro’ or some such nonsense. That is where we are now, and I hold the Council primarily responsible. I urge the Council to reflect and adopt a serious approach to its work on all matters, and that includes this dossier as well.
As to content, the matter at hand is to decide on the delegation of decision-making powers to the Commission. In which areas should the Commission be able to adopt delegated acts, and where should the European Parliament be involved? I think that we have found a sensible middle way here. At my initiative, Parliament – firstly in committee, and I hope now in plenary – has agreed to limit in time the conferral of powers on the Commission. We are proposing to limit the delegation of power for a period of five years. I believe this is a sensible approach, as this five-year period enables us to exercise better control of the Commission’s activities. In other respects too, we have sought to achieve the right balance, especially as regards the powers of Parliament and the areas where, due to its large number of experts and its technical capacities, the Commission should make decisions, and I think we have found the right way forward here.
I hope that this legislation will be supported by a large majority here in plenary so that we can send out a clear signal that Parliament as a whole is united in its backing for this measure."@en1
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