The draft report highlights that it is high time Parliament was given a “general and direct” right to initiate legislation. This would reflect the evolution of the EU and restore balance to its institutional architecture - when the Treaties are next revised. Opening statements by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), JURI and by Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

European Parliament

ŠEFČOVIČ, Maroš (SK, EC)

RANGEL, Paulo (EPP, PT)

Constitutional affairs (T2)

DURAND, Pascal (S&D, FR)

legislative initiative

Parliament’s right of initiative: opening statements by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), JURI and by Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, Dear Chair, Dear Vice-President, I would like to thank your presence, because I know that you made an effort to be here today, and I would like to start. Stating that I deeply regret. Not. This debate isn't acknowledged as a key debate by our parliament. The same applies to the previous debate on the electoral law reform or the debate that we'll have tomorrow on the triggering of the Article 48.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, If this any cycle, if this institution doesn't acknowledge these kind of debates as key debates, what should we expect from the other institutions when they evaluate and appreciate our constitutional claims? And I made this clear to the presidency of this House and to the Conference of Presidents.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, The constitutional tradition of the member states in Europe and the Americas is to confer on parliaments, given their direct democratic legitimacy, a general right of legislative initiative. This is even a historical demand of Parliament's. And it was to transform their right to petition the king in direct right of initiative into the true right of legislative initiative.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, Having said that, in the EU, this has not yet been the case. It doesn't fully honour these constitutional traditions of the Member States. The European Parliament's role as the sole directly elected EU institution is still not completely acknowledged. It only has a indirect right of initiative now. When it comes to the European Public Prosecutor's Office, these right of initiative that are that are exclusive to the European Parliament are not recognised as acts that require a legislative procedure more than the court decision.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, The report that we vote tomorrow clearly shows the towering institutional architecture is ready for a different distribution of the right of initiative. To acknowledge a general and global right of initiative of the parliament is possible, desirable and response to the constitutional aspiration of making the European Union more democratic legitimate.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, I want to strengthen democratic legitimacy, representative democracy. If we want to strengthen them, then Parliament has to have these rights. This Commission is under the commitment of President von der Leyen to always respond with a legislative act to Parliament requests under Article 25 on time with only one or two understandable exceptions, but president Von Der Leyen also says that she is in favour of a right of initiative to the parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, President Macron also says that and even today the Prime Minister of Ireland said that in this hemicycle. So it's time to act. Our citizens, they really aspire for more. And the Conference on the Future of Europe proposed several forward looking proposals. The right of initiative is one of them, and this is the momentum.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, I must say that if there is a huge consensus, as it seems that there is on this very issue of giving to the Parliament the right of direct initiative, then we could have even a revision of the Treaties only for that purpose, because there is a huge consensus in this respect. And so I think that a new distribution of legislative rights of initiative should be acknowledged on our treaties, should be acknowledged by the institutions.

SOUNDBITE (English, Portuguese), Paulo RENGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, And I have to say, and to add, this doesn't imply that the Commission doesn't have its own right of initiative. It is of our tradition in all our countries that both the executive and legislative bodies have the right of initiative. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (German), Othmar KARAS (EPP, AT), EP first vice-president, Now I can say, rapporteur, that we take into close consideration your words. And for the bureau, it is absolutely clear that we under one 100% support this type of initiative. And this has also been expressed in the conference for the future of Europe, where from A to Z initiative, the will of the people, the will of constituents, the supporting of these ever so core principles has been the epicentre of the Conference for the Future of Europe. And now our next speakers, Mr. Pascal Duran from the Committee on Legal Affairs. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), Thank you very much, President. And thank you for recalling issues on the conference on the future of Europe. I'm very pleased to be able to take the floor after Paolo Rangel, my friend, he's always very clear and I think our principles that have been recalled. I'm also very pleased to speak before you, Commissioner.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), I'm sure you know how we share a certain number of values the term terms, democracy and transparency. Two words that I think are close to your heart and I think are close to our hearts as well. So let us try and make sure that these words are given a new content.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), The parliamentary work has evolved, European democracy has evolved, and we want to have entry into a new world. And what the jury committee was asking and on the Conference of Future of Europe as well, Proposal 28, there was a reminder within the framework of the Legal Affairs Committee as well that there should be a right of initiative for the citizens, and that's an important new development.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), I would say that this rights of initiative is something that all of us need. We cannot allow everything to rest on the shoulders of the Commission. The Council has a de facto right of initiative on security, a number of other areas justice. But there is a possibility to work upstream with the Commission. We don't have that opportunity. So give us the opportunity to make progress.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pascal DURAND (Renew, FR), Let us make sure that this right of initiative is recognised for Parliament. And as Paolo Rangel said very clearly, it doesn't take anything away from anyone, it adds to everyone. That's the message I wanted to pass on to you on behalf of the jury committee and also as a member of AFCO, I wholeheartedly support what Paolo Rangel said as well.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, Thank you very much mr. President. Honourable Members, dear Mr. Rangel, dear Mr. Durand. Indeed, today we are discussing a report which is not only institutionally important for the Commission, but it also holds a great deal of personal significance for both President von der Leyen and myself. And I would like to thank our rapporteur, Mr. Rangel, for his work and also for the constructive spirit which is reflected in the final report.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, I would like to underscore that the European Commission is fully aware of the importance of the question of the right of initiative for the European Parliament. So from the outset, I want to assure you of the Commission's full commitment to continuing the positive cooperation with the Parliament and its committees on these matters.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, As you know, President of the Commission in her political guidelines stressed that she supports the right of initiative for the European Parliament. Just to quote her very precisely, she notes that when European Parliament, acting by a majority of its members, adopts the resolutions requesting that the Commission submit the legislative proposal that the Commission would commit to responding the legislative Act in the full respect of proportionality, subsidiarity and better lawmaking principles.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And I hope you would agree with me that the Commission has taking this commitment very seriously. We have adapted our working methods to ensure that the work on this resolution is coordinated on weekly basis, and that the College of Commissioners debates all replies to the Parliament's resolutions adopted under Article 2 to 5 of the Treaty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And I really would like to thank for good cooperation Antonio Tajani, former chair of the CCC, and Ben Lunga, with whom we are working right now, because here I think that we really improve our coordination of cooperation, also upstream exchange of information. And I think that this good cooperation is also translated into very concrete figures.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, The Parliament has adopted 18 resolutions up to now in this legislative period. The Commission has already replied to all of them with the last two replies being sent yesterday. Of the 18, the Commission replied positively to 17 of them, and I think we all would agree that we been quite glad that we do not have to respond to that to the last one because it was on the MFF contingency planning. I think we've been all quite pleased and happy that we didn't need it because we had MFF approved as we all preferred.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, And I have to say that this positive tendency trend is also reflected in the Commission's work programme and I am glad that I can inform you that we already delivered on almost all the legislative acts requested within 90% already adopted, and we are actively working on those which are still outstanding. So this does underlines the Commission's willingness to work together with the European Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, So I am very pleased that the report being put to a vote today acknowledges the Commission for delivering on the President's clear political commitment in relation to the follow up to this resolution. And we also would like to reassure you that we take good note of the call in the report for a more generalised, direct right of initiative of the Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, It is clear that such a broader right would require treaty change. In the Commission's view. Such an idea would require very thorough reflections on the respective competences of the institutions and the balance between them, as well as on the legal, procedural and practical implications.

SOUNDBITE (English), Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Interinstitutional relations and Foresight, Meanwhile, I would like again to underline the commitment that the Commission will continue to honour the commitment to follow ,up on Article 225 resolutions, as we have done until now. And I would like to thank, honourable Members, and JURI and AFCO Committees for the great cooperation in this matter, and I look forward to continue our efforts in coordination with the CCC. Thank you very much, Mr. President.