Parliament’s right of inquiry (debate) – Renew Vlad Gheorghe’s European Parliament speech on Parliament’s right of inquiry (08.06.2021).
European citizens elect European parliamentarians. European citizens give us the task of representing them and oblige us to exercise our mandate in good faith, serving their interests. European citizens invest the European Parliament with their trust and therefore have the right for us to see to the smooth running of the Union and to the correct spending of the EU budget.
The right of inquiry is only natural in any Member State, in line with the rule of law and contributing to separation of powers. It is the same for the European Parliament’s right of inquiry, still, the way this right was established in 1995 no longer corresponds to European realities, thus it is insufficient and inefficient.
In 2014, both Parliament and the Council and the Commission expressed their institutional and political will to have a new legal text in this regard. In 2019, after 5 years, this procedure was resumed.
We find ourselves in 2021 amidst a pandemic and for the next few years we have the largest cumulative budget ever set by the European Union. However, we are facing a deadlock on the European Parliament’s right of inquiry.
We are talking about the rule of law conditionality mechanism applying to Member States, but what about European institutions? The Council, the Commission, the Parliament must be examples of transparency, fully devoted to European principles and values.
Therefore, an appropriate legal framework is needed for the unrestricted implementation of Parliament’s right of inquiry. It is the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy and is based on the legitimacy given to parliamentarians by the vote of European citizens.
In name of the EU citizens and in respect of the treaties, I urge the Commission and the Council to accept the Parliament request for an efficient inquiry mechanism. Every piece of law that the EU adopts needs to be protected. And an inquiry committee is a way to do so.
