Timothy's Question To Viviane Reding
Tuesday 12 January, 2010
Below is the transcript of Timothy's question to Viviane Reding during the Hearing for the Commissioner-Designate.
"The recently adopted Stockholm Programme gave the Parliament another opportunity to succeed where previously the EU has failed; despite this opportunity, we have been left with a Programme which is little more than a Federalist wish list, including calls for a Common Foreign and Security Policy area, a Common European Asylum System, compulsory and irrevocable solidarity, the creation of a European Judicial Academy, calls for the construction of an EU criminal justice, common training and the creation of joint teams of police cooperation, and further strengthening of Eurojust and Europol.
Commissioner, this is a Europe of many Member States and of many different national priorities, the European Union should look to increase effectiveness and improve the implementation of current legislation rather than looking to needlessly expand further into the scope of national competence. The main emphases of the Hague Programme was to monitor and improve the implementation of existing Community measures rather than expand the acquis. It did not work out that way last time, and I have little hope that this will be achieved with the current Programme's list of priorities.
Commissioner, I would like to hear whether you support my belief that what Europe needs is less harmonisation and more cooperation, that we should be fixing what is broken and buildings on our successes, instead of over prescribing and underachieving?"
