MEPs gathered on Tuesday 22 November for a ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the European Parliament in the presence of the Prime Ministers of the three countries that host the institution.
The anniversary of the Parliament, “an institution that embodies European reconciliation”, according to its President Roberta Metsola, and “the house of democracy”, in the words of Manfred Weber (EPP, German), was an opportunity to recall the importance of democracy and the rule of law, which can be challenged at any time.
Although the Parliament has changed since 1952, for Iratxe Garcia Perez (S&D, Spanish) the objective is the same: “European democracy should not replace or weaken national democracy, but strengthen it. Just as European citizenship strengthens national citizenship. It is up to us to keep this spirit alive and to adapt to the new times”.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo praised the “fundamental work this Parliament has accomplished to protect democracy and the rule of law in Europe”. “We cannot leave this fight for fundamental rights to the courts alone. We politicians must also do the hard work”, he added, applauding the Parliament’s perseverance and calling on it to continue to be a “vigilant watchdog”.
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel abandoned his official speech for a moving improvisation, recalling that Europeans had come together in the Assembly only 7 years after the Second World War and that they now lived “in a territory where citizens are free”. “I myself would not have had the right to be free during the Second World War: I am liberal, of Jewish origin and married to a man. And here I am today as head of government. This is the European project: you can be different, and this is where our strength lies: in this diversity”, he stressed.
And this diversity of views could also be seen in the speeches. Marco Zanni (ID, Italian) felt that “one thing is missing for this institution to be mature: sharing responsibilities with a democratic opposition”. “When we respect the minority and the opposition in the European Parliament, we will be able to say that democracy is fully represented in this hemicycle”, he explained, referring to the cordon sanitaire that has been set up around ID.
For his part, Ryszard Legutko (ECR, Polish) had harsh words, explaining that “the European Parliament has done a lot of damage in Europe”. “Parliament represents the demos that does not exist, works for the project that ignores reality and the law, shuns responsibility, turns its back on millions of people and serves the interests of a single political orientation” of the left, he said, before being booed by the Chamber.
Similarly, the Parliament’s anniversary ceremony provided a forum for the Prime Ministers to express their different opinions over the seat of the European Parliament. While Mr De Croo wanted the Parliament to maintain its role in “connecting Brussels and European citizens”, his French counterpart, Elisabeth Borne, insisted on the importance of the Parliament’s Strasbourg seat. Mr Bettel agreed that the important thing was to “bring every citizen closer to this European project”.
While there were reflections on the Parliament’s past, MEPs also looked to the future. In their speeches, several group representatives - Mr Weber (EPP), Stephane Séjourné (Renew Europe) and Manon Aubry (The Left) - called for the Parliament to have the right of initiative. “How many decades will it be before we have the right to initiate bills, to have decision-making power on all adopted legislation?”, Ms Aubry asked.
For Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgian), the challenge for the future is threefold: ambition, compromise and the preservation of democracy and the rule of law. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)