May 07, 2008

Bonde's Political Testament

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Jens-Peter Bonde is leaving the Parliament, but not politics altogether. While he will focus now on leading the EUDemocrats, he wants to leave behind a 10 point legacy – a political testament. In it he names the most needed reforms and changes that the European Union needs.

The Testament is the following:

“1. An end to secretive public servant legislation: Any EU-law should be supported by 75% of the member countries in the Council AND a simple majority in the European Parliament. Judge-made laws must be stopped or let them be approved by the Council and the EP.

2. All meetings in the EU shall be public, unless a decision –which can be questioned– is taken to close them.
All documents shall be available to the public, unless specifically made secret. The names of all participants in the working groups shall be made public online, unless individual participants are protected, through a substantiated exception.

3. Information regarding all expenses based on funds from the taxpayers shall be freely available online, unless a specific –and substantiated– exception is made for a given case.

4. Clear out unnecessary laws and subsidies. Introduce a termination clause for all rules, so that rules and subsidy schemes are automatically discontinued, unless explicitly renewed.

5. Introduce elections to all leading offices –just as in regular democracies. The President and the Commissionaires shall be accountable to the publicly elected politicians in the European Parliament and the national parliaments.
And why not let each country choose its own Commissioner, at the same time and in the same manner as they elect their members of the European Parliament?

6. Use minimum-regulation instead of standardisation through total-harmonisation. Allow the member countries to be pioneer countries for example when it comes to the fight against climate change, health reforms or the environment.

7. Give the publicly elected an appropriate salary through the front door. Stop the extra pay at the back door – through cheating with travel allowances and appointments. Clean up the European Parliament, so that it will get the authority and legitimacy to clear up whatever necessary in all the European Institutions. Let electronic voting show how the members vote –all the time.

8. Stop wasting both millions of Euros as well as CO2 with meetings in both Brussels and Strasbourg.
The Parliament can decide on its own to hold all sessions in Brussels. Then the prime ministers and presidents will probably come up with an appropriate compensation.

9. Remove EU propaganda expenses and allow the Medias to cover the European institutions freely. Do this by giving them unrestricted access to all buildings and by paying for press-rooms with all the necessary technical facilities.

10. Make a new and simple "Basic Treaty" and send it for referendums in all member countries at the same time. It must not be complicated; prime ministers should manage to read and understand the treaty before signing it.”

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