Strasbourg, 13/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) must have a place in discussions on the European Council agreement of 9 December and must be ready to fight for that place, argued the leader of the S&D Group, Martin Schulz, on Tuesday 13 December (see related article in the EP plenary session column). For Schulz, the EP must say “very clearly” that it is “not a guest, an observer” but a “real active player” standing up for European democracy. “We are talking about the fate of citizens in every one of the member states, and their representation at European level - and we are that representation”, he said at a press conference.
He noted that the agreement among the 26 member states must be carried forward inter-governmentally. “Legislation is needed, therefore, to establish a secondary law, particularly on co-decision. The Commission president has said that a fast track decision is impossible”, Schulz said. “If we want a framework for greater fiscal discipline which begins in European law before moving into national laws, then a framework adopted by the European Parliament is needed first of all”, he added.
Schulz argued that the EP role had to be beefed up and that the decisions taken at the European Council cannot operate without this upgrading, “particularly in preparing compatibility between the agreement among 26 member states and law enshrined in the treaties”. He stated that, if the involvement of the EP was not guaranteed, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso “will have to find his fast track some other way, and definitely not at the European Parliament”. (CG/transl.rt)