The Budapest Times
A plenary session of the European Parliament - Photo: europarl.europa.eu

Fidesz MEP: EP report on national parliaments ignores real problems

Written by BT/MTI
A report on the role of national parliaments in the scrutiny of national governments approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday fails to address the real problems faced by national assemblies due to the "expansive interpretation of the EU treaties", an MEP of ruling Fidesz said.

The report, approved by MEPs with 453 votes in favour, 85 against and 95 abstentions, calls for national parliaments to have a bigger role in “the implementation of a national period for budgetary and economic policy dialogue”. It also proposes that MEPs, EU commissioners and the sitting presidency of the Council of the EU should debate EU affairs with the MPs of member states and candidate countries each year.

Fidesz MEP Laszlo Trocsanyi said in a statement that the report focused on institutional reforms aimed at centralisation such as giving the EP the general power to initiate legislation and expanding the body’s powers in connection with setting up investigative committees.

He said EU institutions often overstepped the scope of the treaties and undermined the powers of member states and their parliaments. He cited the example of higher education, noting it was a national competency, yet the European Commission “feels it is authorised to penalise university students and professors by freezing the funds for the Erasmus and Horizon Europe programmes”.

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