Special working group on parliamentary reform

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In 2007 the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, set up a special working group on parliamentary reform. It was chaired by Dagmar Roth-Behrendt MEP (member for Germany) and was to improve the efficiency and image of the European Parliament. Some ideas included livening up the plenary sessions and a State of the Union debate. It is due to produce a final report in July 2008, and put the recommendations into practice by the 2009 elections. [1]

President of the European Parliament position

The President of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the EU and internationally. The president's signature is required for enacting most EU laws and the EU budget.

Dagmar Roth-Behrendt is a lawyer who served as German Member of the European Parliament. She was elected on the SPD ticket and sat with the Party of European Socialists group.

Germany (European Parliament constituency) constituency of the European Parliament

In European elections, Germany is a constituency of the European Parliament, covering the entire country of Germany. It is currently represented by ninety-six members, the most of any European Parliament constituency.

Contents

First proposals

One of the group's key reform ideas, extra debates on topical issues, was rejected by MEPs (mainly from the centre-right) in July 2007 over fears it would disrupt committee work while attracting very few attendees. [2] In response, ALDE leader Graham Watson MEP (member for South West England) withdrew from the group. [3]

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe transnational alliance

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. It has political groups in the European Parliament, the EU Committee of the Regions, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. There are assorted independents in these groups.

Graham Watson British politician (Liberal Democrat)

Sir Graham Robert Watson is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as a Member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1994 until 2014 and was the leader of the Group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party 2002–2004 and the first leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe 2004–2009. From 2011 until 2015 he was the President of the ALDE Party. He currently sits as a UK Member on the European Economic and Social Committee.

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South West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. From 2009 it elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation, reduced from 7 in 2009.

MEPs did however back a proposal to use the European symbols more often in the Parliament. This comes after the European Council's agreement for the Treaty of Lisbon dropped the provisions of the Constitution which would have given the symbols official status. Jo Leinen MEP (member for Germany) suggested that the Parliament take the avant-garde in using the flag and anthem, the latter being rarely used in Parliament. [4] The Parliament first adopted the European flag in 1983, three years before it was formally adopted by the Communities as a whole. [5]

Jo Leinen German politician

Joseph Leinen is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, part of the Party of European Socialists.

Avant-garde works that are experimental or innovative

The avant-garde are people or works that are experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society. It may be characterized by nontraditional, aesthetic innovation and initial unacceptability, and it may offer a critique of the relationship between producer and consumer.

Flag of Europe flag of the European Union and the Council of Europe

The European Flag or Flag of Europe is an official symbol of two separate international organisations, the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU). It consists of a circle of twelve five-pointed yellow (or) stars on a blue (azure) field.

Interim report

An interim report of the reform group was presented in September 2007. It proposes a number of changes to the house, including: Cutting down the debating time for texts with no legislative effect. In 2006, 92 "own initiative" reports (commenting rather than legislating) were tables and 22% of debating time was spent debating such reports, while only 18% was spent on legislative bills; it also proposed being more selective about inviting guest speakers to the house, the group stated that the new practice of inviting numerous heads of state to speak at the Parliament interrupted the normal legislative work of the house; a further idea to cap the number of amendments to documents was voted down. [3]

It is hoped the changes will make the Parliament more political, however Graham Watson, who earlier left the group, stated that he doubts the grand coalition between PES and EPP-ED can get it approved due to opposition from conservative members who voted down the earlier proposals. Other members such as the co-chair of ID, Jens-Peter Bonde MEP (member for Denmark), wanted more radical proposals but Bonde did vote for the report stating that "it is psychologically important to show that we want to become a more political parliament." [3]

Party of European Socialists political party at European level

The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social-democratic European political party.

Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde is a Danish politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the first election in 1979 with the People's Movement against the EU. He was re-elected 6 times consecutively. In 1992 he co-founded the June Movement which he chaired until his retirement May 2008.

Denmark (European Parliament constituency) constituency of the European Parliament

Denmark is one single European Parliament constituency. Since the June 2009 Parliament election it has been represented by thirteen members of the European Parliament. It covers the EU member state of Denmark, but not the Faroe Islands or Greenland which are not part of the EU.

Final report

The final report, due to be voted on in the second week of July 2008, is being put forward by Richard Corbett MEP (PES member for Yorkshire and the Humber) who aims to gear Parliament's work towards areas where it actually has legislative powers. As described above, time on legislative bills would be increased at the expense of own initiative reports. These reports would be amended and voted on in the Committees with the plenary having a single vote on the document (plus a single vote for any alternative presented by group, but not line for line amendment). [6]

Richard Corbett Member of European Parliament

Richard Graham Corbett is the UK Labour Party leader in the European Parliament. He is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber. He represented Merseyside West from 1996 to 1999, Yorkshire & Humber from 1999 until 2009, and Yorkshire & Humber again after being re-elected in 2014. He is vice-chair of the European Movement in the UK, and on the executive committee of the Labour Movement for Europe. He attends Shadow Cabinet and is a member of the Labour Party NEC.

Yorkshire and the Humber (European Parliament constituency) constituency of the European Parliament

Yorkshire and the Humber is a constituency of the European Parliament. It elects six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Committees of the European Parliament

The Committees of the European Parliament are designed to aid the European Commission in initiating legislation.

In an effort to liven up debates and make the work more visible, the rapporteur for a legislative report would introduce, respond to and sum up a debate. There would also be new limits on written questions; at present, unlike other parliaments, there are no limits on the questions an MEP can ask the Commission during question time. The Commission has three weeks to respond to urgent questions and six for non-urgent questions but it often has to deal with a great number of questions that deal with issues outside its mandate (past examples include asking the Commission for information about the death of Osama bin Laden and whether Marks & Spencer uses weight distorting mirrors), sometimes to disrupt the working of the Commission. The new rules would make a question inadmissible if it: fell outside the remit of the European Union, contained offensive language or related to personal matters. If a question was already asked, the author would be informed but they could still maintain their question. This proposal faces opposition from some MEPs who consider it impinging upon their rights. [6] The new rules on questions were approved in July 2008. [7]

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References

  1. ↑ "Improving the public perception and efficiency of the work of the European Parliament - mandate for a working group on reform of the Parliament". European Parliament. 2007-02-15. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
  2. ↑ Kubosova, Lucia (2007-07-12). "MEPs turn down modernising reform". EU Observer. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  3. 1 2 3 Kubosova, Lucia (2007-09-20). "MEPs want to see fewer heads of state in plenary". EU Observer. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  4. ↑ Beunderman, Mark (2007-07-11). "MEPs defy member states on EU symbols". EU Observer. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  5. ↑ "The European Flag". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
  6. 1 2 Corbett, Richard (2008-07-02). "[Comment] The silent revolution of parliamentary reform". EU Observer. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  7. ↑ Mahony, Honor (2008-07-09). "New rules to make it harder for MEPs to form political groups". International Herald Tribune . Retrieved 2008-07-10.
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