Brussels, 11/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Dutch MEP Sophie in't Veld is a member of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee and has been campaigning for years on fundamental rights and data protection. A few days before MEPs vote in Strasbourg on 15 July on Jean-Claude Juncker's candidacy to become the next president of the European Commission, in't Veld spoke to EUROPE about her expectations and demands, which focus on a full package of political priorities and the right people for the job rather than Juncker's personality (interview conducted by SP).
Agence Europe: What did you think of Juncker's hearing with your political group? Will you be voting for him?
Sophie in't Veld: We are still deciding on that. As Liberals, we have always supported the Spitzenkandidaten system and continue to do so. But we won't vote on a candidate and his or her own capacity, but on a package of measures. We have a three-party agreement with the EPP and S&D and we want to clearly put foward our political desiderata and the people for the political positions for implementing them. We tend to be in coalitions in the member states and that's how things are organised there. Our support therefore depends on what other groups are prepared to give us. Because I think they need us; together with us, things are a bit fairer. We have to study the big picture - looking first at the political priorities that we can share with the other parties, and then talking about the specific commissioners. We clearly want commissioners, but not for any old job. I hope we'll have answers by Tuesday.
So the vote isn't about Jean-Claude Juncker as a person?
In my country, there's always been a prime minister who wasn't the person I voted for and we have always worked with him. That is the coalition system and we go along with it. I believe that Juncker is very competent, but here too, we'll need to see the coalition programme.
What do you expect from him in the area of civil liberties?
Three things, as far as I'm concerned: the application of fundamental rights, because the current Commission has been too timid; the introduction of the roadmap for rights for LGTB and freedom of access to documents. On the latter issue, I feel that Juncker is not very clear. It doesn't seem to be a champion of transparency (Ed: Juncker said on Tuesday that he was opposed to transparency that “can damage the weakest and people who can't defend themselves”, referring to people from countries in receipt of aid whose governments are negotiating austerity plans with the troika of lenders). This dossier, Regulation 1049/2001 on access to Commission, Council and Parliament documents has been in deadlock since 2008, because the Council and Commission don't want any more transparency, unlike the Parliament. I want to ask Juncker to get the ball moving here - this should be a priority for everyone.
When it comes to fundamental rights, Hungary is one of the countries we're most concerned about, but there are other countries too. Lithuania, for example, when it comes to the rights of homosexuals. On these issues, Juncker has promised to intervene with greater determination. Article 7 of the EU Treaty (Ed: on the procedure for suspending a country's voting rights at the EU Council of Ministers) is too cumbersome. We need new instruments to cover human rights, freedom of the press and judicial independence.