European Parliament dissatisfied with answers to written questions: ‘Really to cry’ | Abroad

‘Really to cry’, said D66 leader of Europe Sophie in ‘t Veld, ‘and an insult to European democracy’. In a letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, she complains about the poor handling of Parliamentary questions. The issue is widespread, because in a few days, In ‘t Veld collected more than 180 signatures from colleagues, or more than a quarter of Parliament, on one simple email.

According to In ‘t Veld, these are not accidents, but ‘it seems very likely’ that the Commission remains deliberately vague and general. That is contrary to the openness that the Commission itself preaches, she writes to von der Leyen, and it hinders democratic control. “As elected representatives of the people we cannot let that pass us by. Parliament must build up pressure and ultimately also draw consequences from this behaviour,” she explains.

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In ‘t Veld thus means that a Commission can also be sent home – a realization that, in her opinion, too little is felt by both the Commission and Parliament. Incidentally, this only happened once: the Commission itself resigned, just before a negative vote of confidence in Parliament, following a badly handled corruption case.

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The House of Representatives in The Hague also regularly complains about the quality of (government) answers. There is even a Hague expression for this: kir-answers (klutje in ‘t riet).

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