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Fiona Hall MEPMember of the European Parliament for North East England |
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EU CONSTITUTION: "IMPLEMENT PARTS NOW"
June 6, 2005 12:00 AM
Liberal Democrats are calling on the UK Government to use its forthcoming
presidency of the European Union to implement, without delay, a number of
innovations proposed in the stalled constitutional treaty.
National parliaments, say the Liberal Democrats, should be given a strong
new role in ensuring that Brussels' proposals for legislation do not breach
the subsidiarity principle that decisions should always be taken at the
lowest practical level.
The party is calling also for the European Commission to pledge to respect
the wishes of popular calls for new laws backed by more than a million
signatures, and to put the proposals before EU ministers and the European
Parliament.
No new laws would be required to introduce the measures so they do not
by-pass any requirement for formal ratification of contentious parts of the
constitutional treaty.
The Liberal Democrats argue that urgent action is needed to make the EU more transparent and accountable, irrespective of the fate of the constitution.
Fiona Hall commented:
"There are good things in the constitutional treaty to which no-one who wants
reform of Europe can object.
"Government ministers have for too long met to take EU decisions in secret.
This must end now. Europe must become more open and accountable while the role of national parliaments should be enhanced.
"To bring about a shift in the balance of power between Brussels and
national capitals doesn't need agreement on a constitution, it just needs
MPs to start talking to one another across the national divides and exerting
their moral and political influence."
Sir Menzies Campbell, Shadow Foreign Affairs Secretary, will set out the
party's demands in his reply to the statement from Jack Straw, the Foreign
Secretary, in the House of Commons today.
Notes to editors:
REFERENCES IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY
A) ENDING SECRECY IN BRUSSELS BY REQUIRING MINISTERS TO TAKE DECISIONS IN
PUBLIC
Article 1 - 24
The Council shall meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft
legislative act. To this end, each Council meeting shall be divided into
two parts, dealing respectively with deliberations on Union legislative acts
and non-legislative activities.
B) STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS AND ENFORCING THE
SUBSIDIARITY PRINCIPLE
Protocol 2: Articles 6 and 7
Any national parliament may, within six weeks from the date of transmission
of a draft European legislative act, send to the Presidents of the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission, a reasoned opinion stating why
it considers that the draft in question does not comply with the principle
of subsidiarity.
When (such) reasoned opinions on a draft European legislative act represent
one third of all the votes allocated to the national parliaments the draft
must be reviewed.
C) REQUIRING THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO RESPOND TO POPULAR APPEALS FOR NEW
LEGISLATION
Article 1-47
4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant
number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the
Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate
proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union
is required for the purpose of implementing the Constitution. European
laws shall determine the provisions for the procedures and conditions
required for such a citizens' initiative, including the minimum number of
Member States from which such citizens must come.
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