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resumption of the session
i declare resumed the session of the european parliament adjourned on friday 17 december 1999 and i would like once again to wish you a happy new year in the hope that you enjoyed a pleasant festive period
although as you will have seen the dreaded 'millennium bug' failed to materialise still the people in a number of countries suffered a series of natural disasters that truly were dreadful
you have requested a debate on this subject in the course of the next few days during this part session
in the meantime i should like to observe a minute' s silence as a number of members have requested on behalf of all the victims concerned particularly those of the terrible storms in the various countries of the european union
please rise then for this minute' s silence
(the house rose and observed a minute' s silence)
madam president on a point of order
you will be aware from the press and television that there have been a number of bomb explosions and killings in sri lanka
one of the people assassinated very recently in sri lanka was mr kumar ponnambalam who had visited the european parliament just a few months ago
would it be appropriate for you madam president to write a letter to the sri lankan president expressing parliament's regret at his and the other violent deaths in sri lanka and urging her to do everything she possibly can to seek a peaceful reconciliation to a very difficult situation
yes mr evans i feel an initiative of the type you have just suggested would be entirely appropriate
if the house agrees i shall do as mr evans has suggested
madam president on a point of order
i would like your advice about rule 143 concerning inadmissibility
my question relates to something that will come up on thursday and which i will then raise again
the cunha report on multiannual guidance programmes comes before parliament on thursday and contains a proposal in paragraph 6 that a form of quota penalties should be introduced for countries which fail to meet their fleet reduction targets annually
it says that this should be done despite the principle of relative stability
i believe that the principle of relative stability is a fundamental legal principle of the common fisheries policy and a proposal to subvert it would be legally inadmissible
i want to know whether one can raise an objection of that kind to what is merely a report not a legislative proposal and whether that is something i can competently do on thursday
that is precisely the time when you may if you wish raise this question ie on thursday prior to the start of the presentation of the report
madam president coinciding with this year' s first part session of the european parliament a date has been set unfortunately for next thursday in texas in america for the execution of a young 34 year old man who has been sentenced to death we shall call him mr hicks
at the request of a french member mr zimeray a petition has already been presented which many people signed including myself
however i would ask you in accordance with the line which is now constantly followed by the european parliament and by the whole of the european community to make representations using the weight of your prestigious office and the institution you represent to the president and to the governor of texas mr bush who has the power to order a stay of execution and to reprieve the condemned person
this is all in accordance with the principles that we have always upheld
thank you mr segni i shall do so gladly
indeed it is quite in keeping with the positions this house has always adopted
madam president i should like to draw your attention to a case in which this parliament has consistently shown an interest
it is the case of alexander nikitin
all of us here are pleased that the courts have acquitted him and made it clear that in russia too access to environmental information is a constitutional right
now however he is to go before the courts once more because the public prosecutor is appealing
we know and we have stated as much in very many resolutions indeed including specifically during the last plenary part session of last year that this is not solely a legal case and that it is wrong for alexander nikitin to be accused of criminal activity and treason because of our involvement as the beneficiaries of his findings
these findings form the basis of the european programmes to protect the barents sea and that is why i would ask you to examine a draft letter setting out the most important facts and to make parliament's position as expressed in the resolutions which it has adopted clear as far as russia is concerned
yes mrs schroedter i shall be pleased to look into the facts of this case when i have received your letter
madam president i would firstly like to compliment you on the fact that you have kept your word and that during this first part session of the new year the number of television channels in our offices has indeed increased considerably
but madam president my personal request has not been met
although there are now two finnish channels and one portuguese one there is still no dutch channel which is what i had requested because dutch people here like to be able to follow the news too when we are sent to this place of exile every month
i would therefore once more ask you to ensure that we get a dutch channel as well
mrs plooij van gorsel i can tell you that this matter is on the agenda for the quaestors' meeting on wednesday
it will i hope be examined in a positive light
madam president can you tell me why this parliament does not adhere to the health and safety legislation that it actually passes
why has no air quality test been done on this particular building since we were elected
why has there been no health and safety committee meeting since 1998
why has there been no fire drill either in the brussels parliament buildings or the strasbourg parliament buildings
why are there no fire instructions
why have the staircases not been improved since my accident
why are no smoking areas not enforced
it seems absolutely disgraceful that we pass legislation and do not adhere to it ourselves
mrs lynne you are quite right and i shall check whether this has actually not been done
i shall also refer the matter to the college of quaestors and i am certain that they will be keen to ensure that we comply with the regulations we ourselves vote on
madam president mrs d铆ez gonz谩lez and i had tabled questions on certain opinions of the vice president mrs de palacio which appeared in a spanish newspaper
the competent services have not included them in the agenda on the grounds that they had been answered in a previous part session
i would ask that they reconsider since this is not the case
the questions answered previously referred to mrs de palacio' s intervention on another occasion and not to these comments which appeared in the abc newspaper on 18 november
mr berenguer fuster we shall check all this
i admit that at present the matter seems to be somewhat confused
we shall therefore look into it properly to ensure that everything is as it should be
madam president i should like to know if there will be a clear message going out from parliament this week about our discontent over today's decision refusing to renew the arms embargo on indonesia considering that the vast majority in this parliament have endorsed the arms embargo in indonesia in the past
today's decision not to renew the embargo is extremely dangerous considering the situation there
so parliament should send a message since that is the wish of the vast majority
it is irresponsible of eu member states to refuse to renew the embargo
as people have said the situation there is extremely volatile
there is in fact a risk of a military coup in the future
we do not know what is happening
so why should eu arms producers profit at the expense of innocent people
in any event this question is not presently included among the requests for topical and urgent debate on thursday
agenda
the next item is the verification of the final version of the draft agenda as drawn up by the conference of presidents at its meeting of 13 january pursuant to rule 110 of the rules of procedure
no amendments have been proposed relating to monday and tuesday
relating to wednesday
the group of the party of european socialists requests that a commission statement be included on its strategic objectives for the next five years and on the administrative reform of the commission
i would like mr bar贸n crespo who made the request to speak to propose it that is if he so wishes of course
then we shall follow the usual procedure hearing one speaker in favour and one against
madam president the presentation of the prodi commission' s political programme for the whole legislature was initially a proposal by the group of the party of european socialists which was unanimously approved by the conference of presidents in september and which was also explicitly accepted by president prodi who reiterated his commitment in his inaugural speech
this commitment is important because the commission is a body with a monopoly of initiative in accordance with the treaties and therefore basically dictates this parliament' s political and legislative activity for the next five years
i would also like to point out madam president that this parliament voted to express its confidence in president prodi during the previous legislature it did so again during this legislature in july and then in september it voted once more to approve the whole commission
there has therefore been enough time for the commission to prepare its programme and for us to become familiar with it and explain it to our citizens
to this end i would like to remind you of the resolution of 15 september which recommended that the proposal be presented as soon as possible
the events of last week which originated outside the conference of presidents that conference being used simply to corroborate and ratify decisions taken elsewhere present us with a dilemma either the commission is not ready to present this programme in which case it should clarify it
according to its president it is in a position to do so
given that the commission is represented by vice president de palacio i believe that before voting it would help if the commission could let us know how ready it is to present this programme as agreed alternatively parliament is not ready to examine this programme as some appear to be suggesting
in my opinion this second hypothesis would imply the failure of parliament in its duty as a parliament as well as introducing an original thesis an unknown method which consists of making political groups aware in writing of a speech concerning the commission' s programme a week earlier and not a day earlier as had been agreed bearing in mind that the legislative programme will be discussed in february so we could forego the debate since on the next day our citizens will hear about it in the press and on the internet and parliament will no longer have to worry about it
my group believes that since a parliament is meant to listen debate and reflect there can be no justification whatsoever for this delay and we believe that if the commission is ready to do so we still have time to re establish the original agreement between parliament and the commission and proceed in a manner which fulfils our duty to our fellow citizens
therefore the proposal of the group of the party of european socialists and which you have mentioned is that the prodi commission present its legislative programme on wednesday including its proposed administrative reform because otherwise we could find ourselves in a paradoxical situation on the pretext that there is no text on the one hand the president of the commission would be denied his right to speak in this parliament and on the other hand there would be a debate on a reform when parliament had no prior knowledge of the texts on which it is based
therefore madam president i would ask you to request that the commission express its opinion on this issue and that we then proceed to the vote
(applause from the pse group)
madam president i would like to make it very clear that above all the commission has absolute respect for the decisions of this parliament and amongst those the decision establishing its agenda
we therefore respect whatever parliament may decide
but i would also like to make it very clear that president prodi made a commitment to this parliament to introduce a new debate as mr bar贸n crespo has reminded us which would be in addition to the annual debate on the commission' s legislative programme on the broad areas of action for the next five years that is to say for this legislature
madam president i would like to say that the agreement reached in september distinguished this debate from the annual presentation of the commission' s legislative programme
i would also like to say that the commission is prepared and ready to hold this debate whenever it is convenient and that we were ready to do so this week as we had agreed originally on the basis that it would be presented the day before in a speech to parliamentary groups
therefore madam president i would like to repeat that the commission has debated the action plan for the next five years and when parliament decides this week if that is the decision we are prepared to come and explain the programme for the next five years and next month the programme for 2000 which is what we fully agreed upon
i propose that we vote on the request of the group of the party of european socialists that the commission statement on its strategic objectives should be reinstated
(parliament rejected the request) president
still on the subject of wednesday' s sitting i have another proposal regarding the oral question on capital tax
the ppe de group is requesting that this item be taken off the agenda
is there a member who wishes to speak on behalf of this group to propose this
madam president i can hear a ripple of laughter from the socialists i was told that large sections of the socialist group were also keen to have this item taken off the agenda because at the vote in the conference of presidents no vote was received from the working group of members of the socialist group responsible for this matter
i do not know whether this information is correct but the ppe de group would in any case be grateful if this item were removed because parliament has addressed this issue several times already
decisions have also been adopted against a tax of this kind