EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DEBATE ON THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE
Wednesday 24th September 2003
President, An amendment which I, with others, tabled to this report called for confirmation of the dual nature of the Union in which Nation States are the predominant component. All too often European citizens do not feel that this is actually the case. In fact, they feel as though their national identity is being forgotten. There are many ways in which this can be rectified and I personally feel that the Convention could and should have gone further in this area. However, on a practical level I believe that it is essential for MPs and MEPs to work more closely together to ensure the correct transposition of legislation.
'Gold plating' is a phenomenon which affects every Member State, to a greater or lesse r extent. In the UK it is particularly harmful. Harmful to our agriculture for instance. The abattoirs directive left the Commission as a 12-page document, was reduced by the French to a manageable 7-pages and expanded by the British to an unreadable and unacceptable 95-pages! Sadly, there are many other examples of 'gold plating' in the fields of business and industry.
So, Mr President, why does gold plating affect the UK more than any other Member State? One important reason is because the UK, unlike many other Member States, simply does not involve its MEPs in the transposition process.
In Belgium, the Chamber of Representatives has an Advisory Committee on European Affairs which is made up of 10 MPs and 10 MEPs who enjoy equal status on the Committee. Belgian MEPs are allowed to speak in Standing Committee meetings and to table written questions to the Government. The German and Greek legislatures have similar arrangements.
As an MEP who has been a UK MP, I now realise how little I and my colleagues knew about the regulations coming from Europe. We concentrated on national policy matters and spent too little time on European legislation. As a result, Government Departments were able to 'gold plate' the legislation without MPs' knowledge or involvement. This problem has got much worse under the present British Government as they reduce the powers of our House of Commons and time for scrutiny.
The way forward, I believe, is for joint committees of Members of national Parliaments and MEPs to oversee the transposition of legislation into national law in every Member State. This would be a small but significant step in the right direction and, by increasing co-operation between national parliaments and the European Parliament, would allow national MPs a real say in the workings of the European Union.
