During the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, a debate was held on the framework agreement governing relations between the European Parliament and the European Commission. Piotr Müller, a PiS MEP, spoke on behalf of the ECR Group.
The politician emphasized that a key issue in relations between the European Union’s institutions should be greater transparency in the European Commission’s activities, particularly regarding MEPs’ access to documents produced in the course of the Commission’s work.
“I am glad that the European Parliament is taking steps to ensure that the European Commission maintains the highest possible level of transparency. It is extremely important for Parliament that the European Commission make available to MEPs documents produced internally by the Commission, which are not always publicly accessible during negotiations,” the MEP noted.
As an example, he cited the negotiations on the trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries. As he emphasized, documents related to this agreement were not made available to either Members of the European Parliament or the public for many months during the negotiation phase.
The second issue raised by the MEP was the European Commission’s response to written questions submitted by MEPs.
“I regret to say that the applicable regulations are no longer being followed in this regard. Responses are provided late, and above all, they often do not address the actual questions contained in our inquiries. One could say that the European Commission would win a contest for beating around the bush or talking in circles when answering MEPs’ questions,” stated Piotr Müller.
The MEP called on the European Commission to provide more specific and substantive answers and to openly address the challenges facing European institutions in resolving the European Union’s common problems.
