Brussels, 24/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - Several political groups of the European Parliament have welcomed the request of the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, to involve the European Parliament directly in the assessment of the implementation of Greece's third bailout package.
The letter Tsipras wrote last week to the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, does not clearly specify the nature of the potential involvement of the European institution. It refers firstly to the EP getting involved as a “fifth body in the Quartet” (i.e. alongside the Commission, the ECB, the IMF and the European Stability Mechanism) and, secondly, to regulation 472/2013 on reinforcing economic and budgetary supervision.
“Such an involvement (of the EP) is institutionally envisaged in this regulation”, Tsipras explains in his letter, of which EUROPE has had sight. What the text of this regulation states is that reinforced surveillance, including in the framework of assistance from the European Stability Mechanism (or of another financial arm of the Eurozone or of the Twenty Eight) must include “regular reports to the competent committee of the European Parliament”. Greek sources have been able to give no more clarifications about what Tsipras has in mind, but Guy Verhofstadt, head of the ALDE group at the EP, interprets it as support for his own requests. In July this year, the former Belgian prime minister made a proposal to the conference of Presidents of the EP for systematic surveillance of the reform plans by the Parliament. “This can be set in place via monthly exercises at the economic committee of the EP (with the presence of the Greek finance minister, the President of the Eurogroup, the Commission and the ECP)”, Verhofstadt suggested at the time.
The co-president of the Greens/EFA group, Philippe Lamberts, also believes that the EP should have far greater powers of supervision. He calls upon President Schulz to start talks on this point with the Council and the Commission.
“The European Parliament must be fully and directly involved in the monitoring process” of the implementation of the programme, stressed the head of the S&D group, Italy's Gianni Pittella, in a press release. “Giving Parliament this role would turn the page from the troika to a new democratic and Community-based approach, greatly strengthening the political legitimacy of this and future agreements” on financial support, he added.
The GUE/NGL group argues that the EP has been excluded or marginalised in the planning and decision-making process of the programmes, their implementation and monitoring. The group has also written to Martin Schulz to stress its support for Tsipras.
The EPP group has not, as yet, responded to our requests for comments.
A Parliament source said that Tsipras' request will be discussed at the conference of the presidents of the EP group on 3 September, together with the scope of the Parliament's possible role. (Elodie Lamer)