By Chris Jones - 16th February 2007
New European parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering has wasted no time in drawing up plans for parliamentary reform.
But the plans, unveiled by the German in his maiden speech as president in Strasbourg this week, steer clear of the thorny issue of whether to continue the monthly trek from Brussels.
Pöttering has won backing for his proposals from the leaders of parliament’s different political groups, who have appointed MEP Dagmar Roth-Berendt to head a working party on how best to implement changes.
She will concentrate mainly on efforts to make parliament’s committee and plenary sessions more “lively and entertaining” in a bid to raise awareness of the institution with the general public.
But with such arcane issues as codecision, comitology and conciliation likely to be the main focus of her work, the task will not be easy.
And other suggestions, such as the establishment of an annual state of the union debate and making commission and member states more accountable to parliament could be accused of being more about parliament’s self-image than the way it is seen by citizens.
Nonetheless, Pöttering believes that the reforms will help improve deputies’ image.
“Parliament is the institution which represents the European citizen and which has a decisive influence when handling large complex dossiers,” he said.
“The example of the services directive showed that parliament is in fact in a better position than the other institutions to influence the shaping of consensus.”
“For this reason it is critical that we reflect on how to improve our own working practices.”
But with no attempt to address the one issue that is most closely linked to the European parliament in the public perception – the monthly gravy train to Strasbourg – Pöttering’s plans could come to naught.
The million-signature petition organised by former MEP Cecilia Malmström and delivered to the European commission last year was trumpeted as a clear indication of the depth of resentment among Europeans at parliament’s two seats.
And while MEPs and the commission argue quite rightly that any decision on where parliament sits must be taken by member states, a more formal request from parliament, headed by the president, could be said to hold more weight than a mere petition.
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