Parliament report claims MEPs face heavy workload

MEPs’ legislative workload will be as heavy this year as in previous years, despite fears that the EU aim of reducing the volume of new laws will leave deputies twiddling their thumbs.

According to an internal European Parliament report, MEPs will have to deal with 123 legislative proposals in first reading under the co-decision procedure and five in second reading.

In addition, there are 58 proposals before the Council of Ministers for first reading, of which 20-30 could come back before the Parliament for second reading this year. Five proposals are before the Council for second reading and will come back to the Parliament and one issue is currently in conciliation.

The Commission is expected to present 70 new proposals under co-decision this year.

According to the Parliament’s analysis, the workload, in terms of volume of legislation, will be similar to previous years. In 2006 MEPs dealt with 73 proposals in first reading and 34 in second reading. In 2005 the Parliament passed 90 pieces of legislation in first reading and 34 in second reading.

Leaders of two of the Parliament’s political groups have expressed concern that fewer legislative proposals would be emerging from the Commission as part of the ‘better regulation’ agenda which aims to cut the amount of unnecessary legislation. Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group, said recently: "If the Commission is going to interpret ‘better regulation’ as ‘at all cost, let us do nothing’, then the Parliament will have to play a new role in promoting the initiatives and legislation that we need to take Europe forward.

"My own group last year took the unprecedented step of preparing a draft directive to protect services of general economic interest. More initiatives of that sort may come."

He added that even if the Parliament did not have formal powers to propose legislation, it could "shame the Commission into taking action instead of sitting on its hands".

"We don’t need legislation for the sake of it at EU level. But we cannot allow the Commission to neglect its role of proposing initiatives that are clearly needed."

But the Commission maintains that it is keeping up the flow of new legislative proposals. According to an internal analysis, the Barroso Commission in 2006 presented 230 legislative proposals, published 223 communications, two white papers and 11 green papers. Commission officials said this was 3-5% lower than in previous years. The Commission insists that the better regulation agenda is about scrapping outdated legislation and improving the quality of new proposals through better consultation and impact assessments.

Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, recently said that in the absence of legislative proposals to work on, MEPs could end up wasting their time on areas where they had little or no power. He cited the example of a recent Parliament report on the caste system in India.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering last week expressed full support for the better regulation agenda and rejected suggestions that Parliament could be a victim of the approach. "When planning a piece of European legislation, we should always ask ourselves: does it serve people and the environment? Is it necessary in the light of the subsidiarity principle? Does it help to make us more competitive? Does it reduce red tape and costs? Only if these questions can be answered in the affirmative should we go into action as legislators in the European Parliament," he said in his inaugural speech as president last week.

MEPs’ legislative workload will be as heavy this year as in previous years, despite fears that the EU aim of reducing the volume of new laws will leave deputies twiddling their thumbs.