Mr President of the Commission, Madam President-in-Office of the Council, I would like to share my thoughts on the main topic we are discussing today: the legislative programme and the Commission’s working programme. Mr President of the Commission, you told us that you wanted full and transparent cooperation between the Commission and Parliament. That is all very well. You told us: ‘To be strong, the European Parliament needs a strong Commission’. We agree. But you must understand that we cannot accept being treated as the Commission’s obedient stooge. We of course unreservedly acknowledge the fact that it is very important that the work programme is clearly comprehensible politically, which is the case here; this does not, however, exempt you from presenting a legislative programme. And yet, today we have to deal with a work programme that was sent to us at the last moment and a legislative programme of which we had no knowledge before last night. It is difficult for us to work under such conditions. The European Parliament is already suffering from having no right of legislative initiative, even in areas where the Commission is failing to act – which is, in my opinion, an institutional anomaly that should be corrected in order to reduce the democratic deficit. However, Parliament does enjoy the power of active cooperation, which is recognised by the Commission. I would remind you that, from the start of this Parliamentary term, a framework agreement exists between ourselves and the Commission, an agreement that clearly defines the role of Parliament in the legislative process. In accordance with this agreement, the legislative programme for 2002 should have been presented to us in October, accompanied by an assessment of the previous programme; in this way we would have been able to make criticisms, remarks and proposals at a politically appropriate time and within reasonable timescales. I must also underline the extent to which it would be appropriate, on a political level, for political debates on the budget and the legislative programme to mutually support and complement each other. October or November would be an appropriate time for this to take place. Today, we are two months late and there is no legislative programme, or rather, we have only just discovered one exists. Under these conditions, I think that Parliament is de facto deprived of its powers of control and influence, which is not a good thing. I would also like to remind you of some concrete facts: on 30 November, just a few days ago, less than half of the programme for 2001 had been executed. In addition to this, half of the initiatives taken were not included in the legislative programme for 2001. This is astonishing at the very least. It must, of course, be admitted that the unforeseen events that took place, which completely turned the political agenda on its head, justified the tabling of proposals to take account of such upheavals, but a careful reading of the texts shows that, to a great extent, these new proposals have nothing to do with the present situation, or, in any case, could have been tabled at some other time, rather than within the context of the programme for 2001. In my opinion, this reveals, and I think that most Members in my group would agree, that there is quite a significant degree of disorder within the Commission and a lack of common vision of the guidelines that should direct the common work of our institutions. The explanations that you give us to justify this, which relate to the Commission’s internal reforms, will not satisfy us forever. I would point out that these explanations have been given since the start of this legislature. We cannot accept, Mr President, that the European Parliament be deprived of its powers of control, which are clearly recognised; this situation is not good for either Parliament or for the Commission itself. At a time when we are talking about good governance, of reconciliation with the European citizen, the most fundamental thing is that commitments made and Parliament’s prerogatives be respected.

Political group: Verts-ALE