Strasbourg, 18/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Monday evening, at the opening of the European Parliament plenary session, Socialist Group Chair Enrique Baron Crespo (Spain) filed a motion on behalf of his group for the declaration by Romano Prodi on the European Commission's programme for the next five years to be put back on the agenda of this session. He challenged the argument that Parliament is not in a position to examine the programme unless the text has been forwarded to Members prior to the session to enable them to become familiar with it before participating in debate. Mr Baron said that, if that were the case, the Commission's programme would be published on Internet and in the press before Parliament had the possibility of expressing its view.
The Chair of the EPP/ED Group, German Hans-Gert Pöttering, recalled that, during the vote by the Conference of Presidents of the Political Groups on the agenda, the Socialist Group was the only group to oppose the deletion of this item from the agenda of this session and its adjournment to an upcoming plenary. "We have confidence in the Commission. We have confidence in Romano Prodi. But we think such a debate must take place in an orderly way and not by means of a simple oral statement by the Commission President", said Mr Pöttering, calling for debate in February on the Commission's five-year programme, including therein the legislative programme for 2000.
"We are prepared to hold this debate next week", said Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, while asserting that the Commission respects Parliament's prerogatives, among which is the setting of its own agenda.
The ensuing vote confirmed the position adopted by the Conference of Presidents: 208 Members voted in favour of adjournment, 120 against and 6 abstained.
Elles proposes a meeting between Prodi and political group chairs - Lannoye: Enough
debate on general positions
At the start of Tuesday morning's session, Liberal Group Chair Pat Cox regretted the controversy over the decision not to maintain the debate on the European Commission's priorities on the agenda. "We risk creating an unnecessary fracture between the institutions", warned the Irish Member, who said the Commission and its President had shown "commendable self-restraint" in this matter, which is worthy of respect. "I hope we will learn the lessons" of this incident, which was no doubt caused more by "misapprehensions" than by ill will, said Mr Cox.
At a press conference on Tuesday morning, EPP Group Deputy Chair, British Conservative James Elles, stated that "this matter could be settled by asking Prodi to meet the political group chairs and to brief them on the priorities" of his strategy; then, "if there is a text, debate can be interesting". Mrs de Palacio announced that, even if there is a debate at February's plenary, the text would not be available until the day before. "It will already be progress to have a text", replied Mr Elles. More generally, he spoke of his impression that the Commission's "old hierarchy" was gradually trying to go back to "old ways". After the "traumatic period" that led to the resignation of the Santer Commission, it would be a good thing for Parliament to be able to agree upon a framework for future relations with the Commission as soon as possible, observed James Elles, who sees this incident as a return to the Commission's tendency to try to limit Parliament's access to its documents.
At his press conference, Socialist Group Chair Enrique Baron deemed "absolutely bureaucratic" the attitude of the groups that refused to hold a debate with Mr Prodi at this session. This is a "very negative reflex", he said, stressing the importance the Socialists attach to the Commission's presentation, for the first time, of a "legislature programme" (a "fundamentally political" programme, like those of the governments of Member States, he noted).
The Greens' Co-Chair Paul Lannoye observed that it would have been preferable to postpone everything for a month rather than "throwing us once again into a very general debate on the future of the EU". "We heard enough speeches by Mr Prodi on major objectives in the spring, then in July, and again last September and we found it ridiculous to organise another liturgical debate" on general positions, asserted Mr Lannoye.