Brussels, 13/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The newly appointed leader of the European United Left/Northern Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament (EP) Gabi Zimmer announced on Friday 13 April that her group would “fight against” the introduction of the fiscal compact. She said that the GUE/NGL was looking into the legality of the treaty and was considering referring it to the Court of Justice of the EU on the grounds that the treaty required a European institution - the Court of Justice - to monitor the implementation of this inter-governmental agreement (Article 8). The group is also investigating whether the rights of the Parliament infringed and whether it might be possible to lodge a complaint. Zimmer hopes the assessment will be completed within four weeks, before the referendum on the compact scheduled to be held in Ireland.
A GUE delegation will travel to Ireland in a week to ten days' time, she said, to find out what people think of the treaty, how they will vote in the referendum and to engage in discussion with them, Zimmer said. She made it clear that the GUE was looking to inform them of what the treaty would mean, “not to tell them to vote no”. She added that she then wanted to put her position to the EP.
Cooperating with other groups and civil society. The GUE also wants, with the other groups, to uphold the rights of the EP, particularly with regard to the multiannual financial framework, as she believes that the Council is looking to restrict the powers of the Parliament. The Council, she said, has its own particular interpretation of the Lisbon Treaty. She stated that MEPs would not agree to the framework determined by the Council. She said, too, that her “small group” had to work with the other groups in Parliament, as there was “an alternative position” on a number of issues, such as PNR (passenger name records), ACTA, data protection, the Monti II package and the MiFID II directive (updating European legislation on financial instrument markets). Zimmer also laid emphasis on relations with civil society: trade unions and networks of associations, for example. It is very important to have good relationships with the different social movements, she argued, stating that external pressure can influence decisions taken by MEPs. (CG/transl.rt)