European Union (Hansard, 18 May 1999)

§ 7. Mr. James Plaskitt (Warwick and Leamington)
What proposals he has for the reform of the governance of the European Union. [83506]

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Ms Joyce Quin)
The Government are pressing for radical and specific reforms in the way in which the Commission works. We believe that the Commission should be governed by the principles of efficiency, transparency and accountability. Achieving this will require changes in financial control systems, personnel management and structures. We have proposed a number of detailed measures and are discussing these with our partners and the new President of the Commission.
The Cologne European Council will examine how to take forward the institutional issues which were not resolved by the conclusion of the Amsterdam treaty.

§ Mr. Plaskitt
I welcome my right hon. Friend's commitment to radical reform, which is clearly necessary. The European Union has evolved substantially in the past 40 years, but its governance has yet to catch up. Does my hon. Friend agree that the chances of securing that reform, and of Britain leading it, are all the greater now that we are in a position of engagement and leadership in the European Union and no longer carping from the sidelines, as was the case before?

§ Ms Quin
Absolutely. That was clearly seen in the positive outcome for this country of the negotiations in Berlin in March and the successes that we secured in structural policy and a variety of other policies, as well as in working out ways to make proper progress with a reformed European Commission.

§ Mr. Michael Trend (Windsor)
Why is the disgraced Commissioner Edith Cresson still in post and drawing a salary?

§ Ms Quin
As the hon. Gentleman knows, although we have agreed the appointment of the new Commission president to take forward the reforms that we want to see, the new Commission is not yet in place. Once it is, we expect it to proceed on the basis of the reforms that we and others have put forward. Those reforms will include terms and conditions for Commissioners and future appointments to the Commission. It is important that the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues should be constructive on the issues. Their manifesto for the European elections would lead to a massive loss of influence for Britain, whereas, at the moment, we are leading the debate—and I welcome that.