Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 13 December 2016 - Strasbourg

General revision of Parliament's Rules of Procedure (A8-0344/2016 - Richard Corbett)

  Lynn Boylan and Liadh Ní Riada (GUE/NGL), in writing. – I voted against this report, which is extremely alarming and represents a major step backwards for democracy in Europe. This vote has been described as representing merely technical changes that will improve efficiency in the European Parliament. But the truth is these changes will have a dramatic political impact, by undermining democratic oversight, transparency and political pluralism.

My top concern is the empowerment in the legislative process of the so-called trilogue. Trilogues are an undemocratic and illegitimate means of forming legislation that give undue power to the unelected officials of the Commission. This vote not only attempts to legitimise them but also means that once an agreement has been reached in trilogue, MEPs will no longer be able to amend the proposal in the plenary of Parliament.

The ability of MEPs to question the Commission, to propose motions for resolutions, and to table amendments to legislative proposals will all be restricted. This will harm both our ability to effectively represent our constituents and to hold the Commission accountable. The power of the two major political groups, the conservative Christian Democrats (EPP) and the social democrats (S&D), will be further entrenched by the raising of procedural ‘thresholds’.