‘Bring weekly plenaries to Brussels’, urge MEPs

Date: 06/06/02

By Martin Banks

MEPs will next week be asked to back pioneering plans for weekly parliamentary plenary sessions in Brussels.

Currently, the assembly holds just six plenary meetings a year in the Belgian capital, compared with one a month in Strasbourg. But a proposal put forward by the cross-party Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR) calls for a new, weekly plenary during committee and group weeks in Brussels.

'We want to make sure that a short, sharp plenary session is held every Wednesday outside Strasbourg weeks at which the Commission presents the decisions it has taken that day,' said Dutch Socialist Michiel van Hulten, a member of the group.

'At this plenary, members would have an opportunity to question commissioners for a maximum of one and a half hours.'

Under the plan, MEPs may also be able to vote on emergency issues, such as the recent furore over reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Van Hulten stressed the move was not designed to reduce the role of the much-criticised monthly Strasbourg meetings, which are held from Monday to Thursday.

'Our suggestion is aimed at raising the profile of the European Parliament in Brussels which is, after all, where the bulk of our work is done,' he said. 'We believe a weekly plenary would increase accountability and ensure that Parliament is less dependent on the monthly Strasbourg sessions for throwing around its weight.

'It should also make Parliament more visible to citizens.'

Members will be asked to vote on the group's proposal in Strasbourg next week.

CPR comprises 90 MEPs from 13 nations and was set up to increase the assembly's efficiency.

Meanwhile, German and French members are set to oppose plans for next year's Parliamentary calendar that are due to be finalised at a meeting today (6 June) of the Conference of Presidents, which is made up of political group leaders.

Many members from these two countries favour reintroducing Friday meetings during the Strasbourg plenary.

A proposal put forward by the cross-party Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR) calls for weekly parliamentary plenary sessions in Brussels.