President's priorities: Martin Schulz

A democratic Europe is a people’s Europe, says Martin Schulz, as he looks ahead to his two-and-a-half-year stint as parliament president.

When I had the honour and privilege to take office on 17 January 2012 for 30 months until the European election in 2014, I did so with an overwhelming feeling of humility. There is a lot of hard work ahead. Clearly, I am a strong defender and believer in the story of Europe and European integration. I grew up in a town close to the borders of two other countries where people were forced to queue for hours to visit their neighbours in Belgium and Holland. These times have changed; we have overcome war and hunger. We have opened borders. We have proscribed racism and xenophobia. Today, we live in a free, open Europe. In a Europe which can be proud of its cultural diversity, but we must never take the EU or European integration for granted.

This crisis of confidence in politics and its institutions is undermining faith in the European integration process. More and more people are casting a suspicious eye on our work. They are not sure whether everything we do here is necessarily for the best. We must grasp the fact that people in Europe have little time for institutional debates because they are too busy worrying about their children’s futures, their jobs, their pensions, about social justice in general. They want healthy food and a clean environment – we must pay greater heed to what they are saying.

I do not say this lightly, but for the first time since it was founded, the failure of the European Union is a realistic possibility. For months now the union has been stumbling from one crisis summit to another. Decisions which affect us all are being taken by heads of government behind closed doors. The European parliament will not stand idly by and watch this process continue.

I see my role as president of the European parliament, as being one of countering this fixation with summits, this ongoing trend towards the renationalisation of policymaking. I want to help the European parliament raise its profile as a forum for democracy and informed, partisan debate about the future political course of the European Union. We must do everything we can to make sure that our words carry more weight.

It is absolutely vital that we should be able to negotiate with the council on an equal footing, whether those negotiations concern the multiannual financial framework, the reform of agricultural, fisheries or regional policy, measures to combat climate change, financial market regulation, justice and home affairs or trade policy.

The Lisbon treaty has now been in force for two years and we, as the representatives of the people, have been slow to exploit the scope it offers us. Our shared aim must be to exercise the full the powers which have been conferred on us – even if the result is a political dispute. If our parliament is to become more visible, if greater attention is to be paid to its views, a rethink on the issue of first-reading agreements is also essential.

I also want to rebuild enthusiasm for European integration across our continent by listening to those who are critical and at the same time pushing forward with integration through democratic institutions. Many people have risked their lives, and too many people have given their lives, in the cause of parliamentary rights and parliamentarianism. The first freely elected president of the constituent assembly in Tunisia, Mustapha Ben Jaffa, and his colleagues, who are now getting their first taste of parliamentary work, are looking to the parliaments of Europe and to the European parliament as examples. In Libya, where a tyrant waged war against his own people, the EU was the first country or international organisation to open an embassy, giving people hope in a difficult situation. At the award ceremony for the Sakharov Prize, a courageous young blogger and a heroic opponent of Gaddafi moved us with their wide-eyed admiration for European values.

In the Middle East, the question so often put to us is how Europe managed turn enemies into friends, overcome national, religious and philosophical differences and grow together as a united Europe. The farther away from Europe one travels, the better Europe’s reputation becomes. We must work together to ensure that Europeans themselves can once again share this enthusiasm for European integration.These 30 months while I’m president will be crucial for Europe, its citizens and the success of European integration.

Martin Schulz is president of the European parliament