EU Commission
Commission ignores Parliament's new participation rights
At the meeting of the EP Delegation for relations with the countries of the Andean Community on the 4 February 2010 the chief negotiator of the Commission, responsible for the free trade agreement between the EU and Colombia and Peru, refused to provide further information to MEPs (1). German Green MEP Sven Giegold, a member of the Delegation, declared:
"The EU Commission ignores the new rights given to the EU Parliament through the Lisbon Treaty and the new Framework Agreement between the Parliament and the Commission. This became apparent for the first time at the Delegation for relations with the countries of the Andean Communities meeting. Barroso's Commission clearly failed the first test of the new Framework Agreement with the Parliament".
"MEPs must be informed in writing extensively and directly about content and possible problems of the negotiations. Otherwise proper parliamentary control can not be assured. The new Commission does not deserve to be confirmed at Parliament's vote next week in Strasbourg if it is further ignoring the Parliament. "
Notes to editors:
(1) MEPs did not get any papers concerning the state of the negotiations because the Commission has supposedly provided information for the Parliament for several years. However, the more important documents are labelled as confidential
