The Financial Mirror was invited by the European Parliament representative office in Cyprus last week to attend two key events in Brussels organised by the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
The Economic and Social Committee is the Cyprus equivalent of the House Finance Committee: the main European Parliament body for scrutinising EU legislation. Its reports play an important role in European Parliament votes, even if the chamber does not always follow the Committee’s recommendations.
The first event attended by the Financial Mirror last week was the quarterly “Monetary Dialogue” between MEPs and the governor of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet.
This is the only official event where the ECB governor has to answer to elected representatives. In fact, it is not even compulsory under EU law, but it has now become an established practice.
The second was the “Debate with National Parliaments”, where internationally renowned economists discussed how to raise growth in EU countries and in the euro-area. This event was attended by Cyprus’ Chairman of the House Finance Committee, Aristos Chrysostomou.
One of the main messages that emerged from the two debates was the need for more collaboration between the EU institutions on the one hand and national governments and parliaments on the other.
The attempt to reach out to national law-makers is one of the by-products of the “EU crisis” after the rejection of the EU Constitution by two founding member states, France and the Netherlands, in 2004.
The crisis brought home to the EU institutions even more than before that their goals and those of the general public are wide apart.
One of the many ways of addressing this large gap, therefore, is debates such as those held in Brussels last week.
The EU institutions are also trying to reach out directly to citizens. But they have probably realised that the most effective way of stoking local interest in policies and legislation is when national parliaments and national politicians start talking about it.
The second debate with national parliaments is therefore a move in the right direction. But since most citizens couldn’t care less about economics, let’s hope that other 19 European Parliament committees follow the example of the EP’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and start the dialogue.
Fiona Mullen
