Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-07-21-Speech-3-122"
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"en.19990721.7.3-122"2
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"(DE) Mr President, esteemed colleagues, I could make things easy for myself and side with the previous speakers. They are certainly right when they say that Mr Martin Bangemann, in his own inimitable manner, has succeeded in permanently damaging not only the reputation of the Commission and the Parliament but also the European ideal itself. The electorate, the citizens out there in our countries, cannot always clearly distinguish between the Commission, the Parliament and the Council. They frequently get the institutions mixed up and we now have a situation where people at home refer to us as ‘you over there, you in Brussels who are always corrupt, lining your own pockets and so on’.
We now have to painstakingly rebuild, together with the new Commission, that which Mr Bangemann destroyed. What does this tell us about Mr Bangemann when he acts in such a manner? It is imperative that the courts deal with this matter since, casting our minds back to the case of Ignacio Lopez at Volkswagen, this sort of insider knowledge is actually tantamount to a criminal act when an individual gains employment in another area so soon afterwards. This should also be borne in mind.
This Mr Bangemann, however, was also sent here on two occasions by Kohl"s government. In this regard, I would like to clear up the myth once and for all that the opposition in Germany also always provides a Commissioner. That was the case the first time with Mrs Wulf-Mathies, and only then. I would like to ask Mr Poettering, who of course is no longer here: Where was his Party when it came to controlling their own Commissioner? He was hardly acceptable as Minister for Industry and Commerce. He has again been kicked out by the Liberal faction in the European Parliament. As Commissioner, he was very often controversial. Remember the business with the yacht. This is also relevant here. I welcome enormously the fact that the new President of the Commission, together with his new Commission, which we still have to approve, wishes to introduce different rules to the game. Of course, simply signing a Code of Conduct won"t make any difference. We also have to lay down legally binding and documented sanctions in this regard.
We can not accept it when someone says: ‘Well, my reputation may have been called into question but, in any case, I am free to do what I like once my time in office is up’. In this regard, it is down to us, among others, in our positions as Members of Parliament, to fight for clear statutes and rules of the game, and to elaborate on these, since no one benefits from simply throwing stones at others whilst overlooking the fact that we ourselves sometimes sit in glass houses.
(Applause)"@en1
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"Kreissl-Dörfler (Greens/ALE)"1
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