Brussels, 29/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - "New governance" must not mean that we turn our back on parliamentary democracy, which must, on the contrary, remain the pillar of democratic governance, and cannot be replaced by a form of "direct democracy", said, in summary, the President of the European Parliament Socialist group, Enrique Baron, during a seminar on European governance organised on 27 March in Brussels by the group. The members of the group Hannes Swoboda, Austrian, and Max van den Berg, Dutch, said they were open to the participation of all those who are interested in European affairs, but that "as parliamentarians, we have the duty to conciliate the interests of individuals and the general interest, and that the final decision comes down to the Parliament.
The Socialist group will examine, next week, its own contribution to the debate, before sending it to President Prodi, who announced for next summer a White Paper on governance. Among the participants in the seminar are, Jerome Vignon, responsible for the "Governance" Task Force in the European Commission. Other participants being the ETUC Secretary General, Emilio Gabaglio, as well as Daniela Israelachwili for UNICE, Jim Murray for the BEUC, Manfred Dammeyer for the Committee of the Regions, Giampiero Alhadeff for SOLIDAR and the European Social NGO Platform and Professor Mario Telo, co-ordinator of the "Jean Monnet action" for the White Paper on governance.