Brussels, 21/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a column published yesterday by the newspaper "Le Figaro", the French Senator, Huber Haenel, member of the European Convention called for, "strengthening democracy by conjugating the legitimate features" and gave his support to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's proposal for a "European Congress". This congress, which could consist of a third of European Parliament representatives and two thirds from national parliament representatives, would in effect marry the legitimate features and thus give the Union a greater democratic scope", writes Mr Haenel. The Senator also said that more confidence should be placed in the European Commission at the beginning of its mandate, since that every year it is given a final discharge for its action. Mr Haenel added that such a formula appeared better than the Commission being responsible to the European Parliament for several reasons: it would bestow the Commission with greater legitimacy; I would guarantee it more independence by preventing its dependency on a European Parliament majorities and would also be better in terms of institutional balance. Mr Haenel also wanted to know how the Commission could be held responsible to the European Parliament if the latter could not be dissolved. The Senator from the French Rhine-land and President of Senate Delegation to the European Union also explained that at the same, the annual European Congress meeting would provide the occasion for a "settling of scores" with regard to the current accountability deficit in Europe. The main Union leaderships would be obliged to explain their policies and take on board the criticism and expectations of citizen representatives. Public opinion would finally have some thing on which it could orientate and enable them to understand where Europe was going, Mr Haenel declared.