Strasbourg, 18/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - By adopting, on 16 May, four own initiative reports on the “better lawmaking” initiative launched by the Commission on March 2005 (see EUROPE 8911, 9036 and 9056), MEPs affirmed their involvement in the process of improving Community legislation which aims to clarify the legislation and ensure better protection of the rights of European citizens, particularly with regard to transparency of information.
Providing an overall assessment of the “better lawmaking” initiative, the report by Italian Green MEP Monica Frassoni on monitoring the application of Community law in 2003 and 2004 (21st and 22nd annual reports) calls on the Commission to act quickly, with firmness and in a non-arbitrary fashion against Member States which do not abide by Community laws. Highlighting how the implementation of European directives can vary from one State to another, the Frassoni report notes too that on the environment, the internal market and public health, Community rules are not sufficiently well applied, and at times barely at all. The proposed solutions vary, going from lists of the most badly implemented directives which should be regularly examined by the relevant EP committee to regular meetings with representatives of the Member States. So that citizens can take advantage of their right to complain directly to the Commission if a Member State fails to implement a piece of Community legislation correctly, the report suggests improving transparency and information to the public. Community legislation “represents an irreplaceable instrument for forming a consciousness of belonging to a community of law that goes beyond their State,” says the report, which calls for the inclusion in all legislative acts of a user-friendly summary to improve people's understanding of EU policy making.
Stressing the need for all Community legislation adopted to fully respect the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, the report by Dutch MEP Bert Doorn on the application of the principle of subsidiarity (12th annual report) recommends legislation which emphasises quality rather than quantity and recommends that the “better lawmaking” initiative be practised and assessed in certain areas before being applied more generally. Believing them to be the only way to achieve clear improvement in the legislation process in Europe, the Doorn report supports impact assessments, to measure the effect of an EU law in social, economic and environmental terms, applied uniformly to all new legislative proposals. In this context, the Doorn report says that the EP “will not consider any proposals without their being accompanied by an independently scrutinised and approved impact assessment”. Finally, the report stresses that the EP, and in particular the rapporteur responsible for the legislative text, should be more closely involved in the application of European legislation.
Highlighting the fact that, despite improvement in some Member States, transposition and implementation of Community legislation continues to pose a problem, the report by British Labour MEP Arlene McCarthy on the implementation and impact of internal market legislation calls for improved monitoring of the application of, and compliance with, European law, which could improve transposition levels, and wants sanctions for non-compliance to be considered. In this context, the EP calls on the Commission to set up an independent audit body to manage the quality and independence of impact assessments of EU law. The McCarthy report states that the Parliament and the rapporteur responsible have a central role in monitoring Member States' application of, and compliance with, Community law.
Adopted by 506 votes to 10, with 31 abstentions, the report by Giuseppe Gargani (EPP-ED, Italy) on a strategy for the simplification of the regulatory environment supports the Commission's initiative on the simplification of EU law (see EUROPE 9056) with, as a priority, the repeal of legal acts which have become irrelevant or obsolete. The report also recommends wider codification and recasting of the acquis communautaire, the most important factors in simplification, leading to texts which are easier to read and more legally sound.
Supporting the codification of the acquis communautaire but expressing scepticism over its complete recasting, because that could give rise to differing interpretations from one EU institution to another, the Gargani report emphasises that simplification must not lead to a re-writing of EU law outside democratic control. The report also says that the use of alternative methods of regulation, such as co-regulation and self-regulation can usefully complement legislative measures when these measures bring improvements equivalent or superior to what the legislation allows, but he recalls the right of Parliament to oppose the coming into force of a voluntary agreement. Since it could lead to less transparency and responsibility, because elected representatives are excluded from the decision-making and the rights of involvement of NGOs and other parties are not equally ensured, standardisation should, according to the report, be strictly limited to purely technical harmonisation measures. The report also calls on the Commission to give priority to the simplification of regulations, with directives only being simplified in exceptional cases, duly justified, when they do not refer to sensitive subjects or result from difficult compromise - Community company law, for example. MEPs also approved an amendment calling for economic social, environmental and health issues of the legislation to be taken into consideration in the simplification exercise.