Your Say

13/10/2004
Prodi stocktake falls short

Romano Prodi today presented his stocktake to the European Parliament as his Commission's term in office nears to a close.

Speaking in the debate on the Prodi Commission's term in office, Jonathan Evans MEP, Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, said: "The Commission has, these past five years, become fatally addicted to constitutional change. When you spoke to the Parliament in 2000, setting out your priorities as President, you said: 'Europe's citizens are disenchanted and anxious. They have lost faith in the European institutions'.

"I am afraid that the intervening period brought us the Constitutional Convention and then the IGC which produced the EU Constitution. It is clear from the turnout in this year's European elections that this process has failed to inspire. Indeed, it has reinforced a perception across Europe that institutions like the Commission are self-serving. In that 2000 speech, you also said that a simple benchmark of whether the EU had delivered was 'a higher turnout in the 2004 European parliamentary elections'. One of the key reasons why this goal was not reached has been the obsession with constitutional change that means nothing to the citizen.

"On the reform of the Commission, very little progress has been made. In this task, Vice-President Kinnock has failed the test. In particular, on the issues of the Commission's accounting system, the Eurostat scandal and the general approach to tackling fraud and mismanagement, this Commission has singularly failed to match up to expectations.

"In conclusion, I very much hope that the new Commission, assuming it is confirmed in office, will set about its work with a focus on radical economic reform and aware that it can contribute to bringing the citizen closer to the institutions by doing less and doing it better."

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