A3-0415/93

Resolution on the application of Rule 4 of Parliament's Rules of Procedure

The European Parliament,

-having regard to the proposed amendment to its Rules of Procedure tabled by Mr Galland on behalf of the LDR Group,

-having regard to the report of the Committee on the Rules of Procedure, the Verification of Credentials and Immunities and the opinion of the Committee on Social Affairs, Employment and the Working Environment (A3-0415/93),

A.mindful of the principles laid down by the EC Treaty,

B.whereas Article 6 of the EC Treaty prohibits any discrimination on grounds of nationality,

C.mindful of Article 4(1) of the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage,

D.whereas Article 8 of the EC Treaty establishes a citizenship of the Union, attributes this citizenship, without exception, to every person holding the nationality of a Member State and provides that citizens of the Union shall enjoy the rights conferred by the EC Treaty and be subject to the duties it imposes, without distinction of any kind between the various rights and duties,

E.whereas Article 138a of the EC Treaty provides for the expression of the political will of the citizens of the Union through political parties at European level, thus making political will independent of belonging to a particular State,

F.whereas the European Parliament appoints an Ombudsman who, under the terms of Article 138e of the EC Treaty, shall be empowered to receive complaints from any citizen of the Union or any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in a Member State, whether the latter participates in all Community policies or not,

G.whereas, under the terms of Article 8b(2) of the EC Treaty, every citizen of the Union residing in a Member State of which he is not a national shall have the right to vote and to stand as a candidate in elections to the European Parliament in the Member State in which he resides, under the same conditions as nationals of that State, which means that the Members of the European Parliament represent not the States brought together within the Community but its people as a whole, i.e. a single political and electoral body,

H.whereas the Protocols annexed to the EC Treaty on certain provisions relating to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and certain provisions relating to Denmark, the Agreement on Social Policy concluded between eleven of the Member States and annexed to the EC Treaty and the decision of the Heads of State or Government meeting in Edinburgh within the European Council concerning certain problems raised by Denmark on the Treaty on European Union only establish exceptions relating to the attendance of representatives of the States in question at the Council of Ministers and do not provide for any exception or exclusion as regards the other institutions,

1.Rejects any withdrawal by a Member State from full participation in all fundamental aspects of the Union;

2.Points out that the existence of institutions of a Community nature in which no discrimination can be tolerated between their members implies that each Member State has an obligation to enter into the same commitments as its partners;

3.Confirms that the reservations expressed by the Danish and British governments cannot influence the internal working of Community institutions;

4.Calls, with respect to social policy, for the speedy adoption of all the measures necessary to strengthen and upgrade that policy and calls emphatically for efforts to be made to ensure that the United Kingdom complies as soon as possible with all aspects of the EC Treaty in the field of social affairs;

5.Declares that all its Members shall participate in all procedures in which it is granted powers by the Treaties and in all other aspects of parliamentary life;

6.Rejects any interpretation and any action designed to limit or negate the unitary nature of the European Parliament and stresses that no binding mandate can be imposed on Members of the European Parliament;

7.Considers it necessary, however, for the question of the uniformity of legislation and decision-making procedures to be definitively settled at the Conference of Governments and Member States due to be held in 1996;

8.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Community institutions and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.