PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION UNDER THE PRESIDENCY OF GASTON THORN

by Altiero Spinelli

SUMMARY: The Parliamcnt considers the Commission's report on the activities of the Community in 1980 and the programme of activities of the new Commission under the presidency of Gaston

Thorn, for 1981. "Speeches in European Parliament, 1976-1986", Pier Virgilio Dastoli Editor. (EP, 12 February 1981)

Mr President, in his speech Mr Thorn informed us that the Commission over which he presides will no longer transmit to the Council - as happened too often in the past - proposals for compromises which have been toned down to meet the requirements of the national experts, and that in future it will only make proposals which take account solely of the Community interest. I take this to be a criticism of the previous Commission, among others.

But, Mr Thorn, you have been in political life too long to be unaware that it is very often difficult to match words with deeds, unless there is a modicum of political strength behind those words. You and I know very well to what enormous national and sectoral pressures the Commission is subjected when it is preparing, processing and defending its proposals.

The Commission therefore needs a strong ally, the strongest possible. There is only one candidate - Parliament, provided the Commission wants to make this institution its ally. Well, we were expecting - or at least I was expecting - that when you came to speak here you would deal not only with the need to cooperate and the need for institutional peace - even enriching the Community vocabulary with the new expression 'three-way conversation' - we were expecting you also to say 'Mr Jenkins promised here that when the Commission drew up its proposals would discuss them with Parliament and would not present them to the Council until they had been approved by Parliament'. That is to say that before any inter-institutional agreement, before any reform of the institutions the Commission had committed itself to involving Parliament in the preparation of legislation. Unfortunately this promise was not kept. We would have wished that after this statement you had said 'Well, we shall do what the Jenkins Commission prom

ised'. Instead the commitment has disappeared, and there is nothing left to give us hope of such an attitude - Mr Andriessen will merely keep us informed of what the Commission does.

Mr Thorn, I think that in this way you are enormously weakening the position of your Commission and that you will not succeed in maintaining that independence which, as far as I can tell, you would like to maintain. In your statements you tell us that this Community can no longer be a 'one per cent' Community, that it must have the opportunity to develop. Yet immediately after this fine statement you added that you would now content yourselves with remaining within the present ambit. The tension between Parliament and the Council has been increasing year by year for three years, because the budget fails to satisfy the Community, and you are unable to sketch out any perspective going beyond the present limits. Do you or do you not intend rapidly to present a plan which will indicate the how the Community can acquire new resources if it needs them? Will you or will you not present, together with measures, agricultural proposals which will ensure that these new resources are not swallowed up in price support bu

t will be used for new policies? If you had told us that something would be presented in the next few months, you would be presented in the next few months, you would have said all that was needed for this year - all the rest could then have developed gradually. Instead, you said no such thing.

Your statement speaks of the Third World and of the importance of aid to developing countries. We would like to know if the Commission intends to commit itself, after all the debates we have had, to making available a larger, more credible and more impressive sum than that which has so far been at our disposal.

This would also help to revive our own economics, which will benefit from increased demand from the developing countries. Or shall we go on counting out the centimes in the cheese-paring manner we have so far adopted? There is nothing in your statement to clarify this question.

I could go on to mention other points, but I simply say to you, Mr Thorn, that if the Commission continues with this approach, whereby the major objectives are well formulated and set out but there is no indication of a first step, it will be failing in its duty.

I have always been convinced of the aptness of one of Monnet's ideas - that when some great project was at stake, the thing on which he concentrated and which was fundamental for him was the nature and direction of the first step. In your report, Mr Thorn, there is no substantial indication of first steps in any direction. I therefore think we can only be disappointed with your statement.