Pöttering calls on MEPs to reform the Parliament

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the newly elected European Parliament president, has called on MEPs to agree to "comprehensive reform" of the assembly.

Giving his inaugural speech as Parliament president in Strasbourg on Tuesday (13 February), Pöttering said: "We must be prepared to reform our own house." This would make great demands on MEPs, he said, especially in terms of being present for votes and important debates.

According to Parliament sources, Pöttering wants a special working group on reform to focus on work in committee and plenary meetings to "improve efficiency and public perception". The group will be chaired by German centre-left MEP Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, a former vice-president of the Parliament.

One idea he initially floated was for a cooling-off period in first-reading agreements between the committee adopting its position and the vote in plenary, to give political groups and their members more time to form their views. But he later withdrew the suggestion after criticism from group leaders.

The president wants to examine ways for committees to adjust their work to the better regulation agenda, with assessment of administrative impact as well as transposition into national law. He proposed more support for key committee members (such as rapporteurs, their shadows from other political groups and group co-ordinators), but has also retreated from that suggestion.

Another possibility up for discussion is converting the current sub-committees on security and defence and human rights into fully-fledged committees.

Pöttering also wants to look at ways of increasing incentives for MEPs to turn up for plenary sessions. One idea he put forward was for debates to be made more interesting by limiting speaking time for representatives of the Council of Ministers and the European Commission and allowing immediate responses and follow-ups to questions. But a plan to consider a "catch the eye" system for allocating speaking time to MEPs, under which members could be given the floor more spontaneously, has also met resistance.

Pöttering wants the working group to draw up an interim report by September and a final report by June next year.

Leaders of several political groups are expected to sit on the working group, including Graham Watson (Liberal), Monica Frassoni (joint leader of the Green/EFA group), and Jens-Peter Bonde, joint chair of the Eurosceptic Independence and Democracy group. Françoise Grossetête, a French centre-right MEP, will represent the centre-right EPP-ED group, while German Socialist MEP Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann will represent the United European Left-Nordic Green Left.

Watson called on Pöttering to "grasp the need for reform of the house" and refocus on "political substance" rather than processing "hundreds of amendments".

Frassoni said that the reform agenda should also address the issue of having the Parliament’s seat in Strasbourg. Previously Frassoni has criticised Pöttering for not tackling EU governments head-on about the issue of Strasbourg and hiding behind the excuse that the decision is laid down in the treaty and can only be changed with the unanimous agreement of all governments including France.

Pöttering’s predecessor, Josep Borrell, tried to win support for wide ranging reform of Parliament but his plans were watered down by Pöttering and the leader of the Socialist MEPs Martin Schulz. They only backed some of Borrell’s proposals and opposed his call for more "catch the eye" debates to enliven exchanges in the chamber.

The speech

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the president of the European Parliament, has called for the creation of a new award to recognise citizens’ achievements in raising Europe’s profile at home and abroad. Making his inaugural speech as president in Strasbourg on Tuesday (13 February), Pöttering suggested a European Parliament award to show "respect for the dedication of citizens" in their efforts to make Europe better known.

In a speech which outlined his priorities for his two and a half year term of office, Pöttering also called for a "House of European history" which would celebrate European unification. "In national museums, European history is nearly always represented in purely national terms," Pöttering explained.

Pöttering also said that EU reform and inter-cultural dialogue would be among his priorities. The EU should "actively support every example of coexistence in Europe of Christian, Muslims and Jews" and work to "build an intellectual and cultural bridge across the Mediterranean", he said.

Pöttering added that he would visit Arab states as well as Israel where he would address the parliament, the Knesset. And intercultural dialogue will be the main topic of the next session of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, to be held in Tunis on 16-17 March, which Pöttering will attend.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso backed Pöttering’s focus on inter-cultural dialogue and said that he would be hosting a summit with the chairmen of the three main EU institutions and leaders of the main religions and churches in May.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, the newly elected European Parliament president, has called on MEPs to agree to "comprehensive reform" of the assembly.