Raül Romeva i Rueda

la importància que molts dels col.legues donen als postul.lats que ella mateixa ha defensat en la seva campanya, entre els quals destaquen, sobretot, crides a una major transparència i eficiència del Parlament Europeu, major participació i apertura cap a la ciutadania, acabar amb l’absurditat de la doble seu (Brussel.les/Estrasburg), o basar la tasca representativa internacional del Parlament en el compliment de les resolucions adoptades, especialment les que mencionen aspectes sobre Drets Humans, entre d’altres aspectes. 

Per altra banda, el Grup Verds/ALE, a iniciativa de Monica Frassoni, ha fet fer un estudi sobre l’eficiència energètica de l’Edifici del Parlament Europeu a Brussel.les, utilitzant la tècnica de la termografia. En tant que institució pública el Parlament ha de donar exemple davant dels importants reptes energètics als quals el canvi climàtic ens obliga a fer front. Aquests  són els resultats de l’estudi.

Adjunto a continuació la intervenció que na Mònica ha fet en el moment de presentar la seva candidatura, aquest matí, just abans de procedir a les votacions.

PRESS RELEASE – Strasbourg, 16 January 2007

EP Presidency

Grand Coalition candidate endorsed; Frassoni achieves 145 votes

The European Parliament today elected a new President to serve until 2009. The deal between the EPP and PSE was endorsed by 450 votes, with candidate Hans-Gert Pöttering being elected. Greens/EFA Co-President Monica Frassoni succeeded in gaining 145 votes. Ms Frassoni‘s intervention in the plenary, presenting her candidacy, follows below.

"The European Parliament is the only supranational assembly with real legislative powers and the only one in the world elected with universal suffrage.

The President is the voice and face of the EP.

I am presenting my candidacy for the election because I believe that the person elected to lead our assembly must make the European dimension of democracy more concrete and be capable of representing the will of the majority, while preserving his/her own independence of judgment and while respecting the value of each member.

In the next two years the President will have to continuously prove that he or, I hope, she will represent an institution which is not subservient to the interests of Member States or susceptible to the pressure of financially powerful lobbies; the President will also have to prove that he or she can reach out to and respond to an increasingly divided and indifferent public.

The President should demonstrate that he or she is capable of fighting for the constitutional rights acquired by the European Parliament. We should reassert our claim to these rights when we are told – as Angela Merkel will probably do tomorrow – that, in order to resolve the constitutional crisis, it is pointless to consult the European Parliament or have a public debate; that swift negotiations between EU governments will suffice. Another IGC behind closed doors will produce little more than a compromise on the lowest common denominator.

In a world in which even the European Commission and some Member States accept that individual and collective rights are negotiable in the context of economic issues or the fight against terrorism, the European Parliament and its President must continue to give a voice and legitimacy to all those who cannot speak or act freely in their own defence. The Parliament and its President must also continue to publicly denounce inconvenient truths, as it has already done in the cases of Chechnya, China, CIA renditions, Guantanamo, Cuba and many other issues.

The elected President will have to ensure that the question of the seat is not continuously brushed under the table. More than one million citizens have signed the ‘one seat’ petition, yet the big groups in this house continue to side-step any discussion of the Parliament’s seats. This issue has become important for the credibility of our institution: no matter which way we choose, we must take a clear stance and this means at least holding a debate on the issue.

The elected President must also prioritise internal reforms, which have been blocked for too long. Our debates must be made more interesting and relevant and this entails greater flexibility. The new President will have to actively engage with Council and Commission to improve the quality of their answers during question time and declarations: ensuring the responses have some substance and are not simply diplomatic hot air is also a way to motivate members to stay in plenary.

Colleagues, if ‘better regulation’ means fewer legislative proposals, there is also a need for instruments to the assess effects and monitor the implementation of European legislation.

The Parliament’s President should not just be accessible for all groups, he or she must also guarantee that the Parliament’s personnel remains independent from the political currents in this house. The trend towards the politicisation of the administration and the distribution of posts between the EPP and PSE, which will degrade many of our officials and weaken this institution, must be reversed.

Dear colleagues, I ask for your support today because I believe that across the political divide we share a profound concern about the risks of the EP becoming muted by its obedience. We can and we must reverse this trend and whatever the outcome of this election, I pledge to work passionately to push forward the difficult task of building a coalition for change."