Brussels, 21/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Around 40 MEPs have signed the call for a parliamentary assembly within the UN system, Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany) announced on Tuesday 20 September. “A parliamentary assembly within the United Nations would be a way of bridging the gap between decisions which have to be taken at global level and the democratic deficit which exists with regard to the representatives who take decisions”, said Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, Germany). Leinen argues that more and more issues, such as nuclear proliferation, food security or climate change, require a global solution.
The MEPs have asked European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton, the head of the EU diplomatic corps, to support a debate on the role of parliaments and to argue for the establishment of a United Nations parliamentary assembly, in line with the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 8 June 2011.
Although the details of this consultative assembly would have to be negotiated at an intergovernmental conference, the two German MEPs have proposed that it should have up to 900 members so that each member state would have at least two seats and proportionately more according to size. The role of the assembly would be to discuss world affairs, draft recommendations for the General Assembly and prepare reports for citizens, which would allow some measure of monitoring of the action or inaction of the General Assembly, said Leinen. The involvement of regional assemblies, such as the European Parliament, would be a later step, he conceded. The Swedish, Norwegian, Indian and Ugandan, and also the Latin American and African parliaments back the idea of a UN parliament. (CG/transl.rt)