For much of its life, the European Parliament could have been justly labelled a 'multi-lingual talking shop'. But this is no longer the case: the EP is now one of the most powerfullegislatures in the world both in terms of its legislative and executive oversight powers.
Professor David Farrell, University of Manchester[1]
The European parliament has suddenly come into its own. It marks another shift in power between the three central EU institutions. Last week's vote suggests that the directly elected MEPs, in spite of their multitude ofideological,national andhistorical allegiances, have started to coalesce as a serious and effective EU institution, just as enlargement has greatly complicated negotiations inside both the Council and Commission.
America’sconstitution had flaws, but it proved astonishingly robust. Europe’s at the end of thetwentieth century was fragile. It sought to govern not a mostly homogeneous set of commonwealth states, butcountries with distinctpersonalities,cultures andvulnerabilities. Few were ready to submerge them in a continental whole, as fashioned by the champions of ever closer union inBrussels. The European Commission and Parliament had both become unwieldy. The former’sbureaucratic expansion into everything frombuildingregulations tofood sizing andbat control was ridiculed. The impendingeurozone was a gamble. Lacking the safety valve of internal devaluation or other adjustments, it would involve a severe loss ofsovereignty for its membergovernments. The European Parliament was a paper tiger, given over to lobbying for domestic projects.Election turnouts fell steadily from sixty-two per cent in 1979 to forty-three per cent in 2009.
Simon Jenkins,A Short History of Europe: From Pericles to Putin (2018)
Graham Watson (ALDE): Mr President, my Group considers what the House has just done to be illegal, as I explained earlier. Nonetheless, we accept the verdict of the House. As they sometimes say in my language, we look forward to seeing you in court!
(MEPs laugh)
Dr.Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP): This concerns the whole Parliament; as you are also among its Members, you, too, would be appearing there.
But symbolic gestures alone cannot cement peace. This is where the European Union’s “secret weapon” comes into play: an unrivalled way of binding our interests so tightly thatwar becomes materially impossible. Through constant negotiations, on ever more topics, between ever more countries. It’s the golden rule ofJean Monnet: “Mieux vaut se disputer autour d’une table que sur un champ de bataille.” (“Better fight around a table than on a battle-field.”) If I had to explain it toAlfred Nobel, I would say: not just a peace congress, aperpetual peace congress! Admittedly, some aspects can be puzzling, and not only to outsiders. Ministers from landlocked countries passionately discussingfish-quota. Europarlementarians fromScandinavia debating the price ofolive oil. The Union has perfected the art of compromise. No drama of victory or defeat, but ensuring all countries emerge victorious from talks. For this, boringpolitics is only a small price to pay. Ladies and Gentlemen, It worked.Peace is now self-evident. War has become inconceivable. Yet ‘inconceivable’ does not mean ‘impossible’. And that is why we are gathered here today.Europe must keep its promise of peace.
