Why the Resolution on Endocrine
Next week the European Parliament will vote to adopt a Resolution on the state of play Endocrine Disruption and the non implementation of last year’s European Court Judgement.
All Parliamentary Groups have tabled their own particular versions (see here) and it will be interesting to see if a compromise is reached.
The Resolution is seen as needed for two reasons.
1. As one of the Resolutions mentions, the EP has a legal opinion from their lawyers that states this Resolution is needed if the EP go on to sue the European Commission (again) for failing to act on last year’s Court judgement.
2. It is continuing political pressure on the European Commission to bring forward the delegated legislation on endocrine disruption criteria.
Don’t Worry – We Will Know on June 15
This is all slightly strange in that the Commission has been very public saying they will adopt a proposal on 15 June, 2016.
Whether the Member States or the European Parliament accept this proposal is, of course, another thing. As the first proposal will be reviewed by way of RPS, the EP and Member States will have considerable leeway to reject a proposal they disagree with. Of course, the arithmetic makes this very hard for with the EP or Member States to achieve. And, this would either lead the Commission to tabling a proposal that gathers their support or tabling an ordinary legislative proposal.
What Happened to the Motion of Censure
These Resolutions come after a Motion of Censure tabled by a number of Groups on the left and right, led by the anti European EFDD Group, fell apart after the Radical Left stepped out. The Radical Left stopped supporting it because it would send a damaging signal about the perilous state of the EU if it gathered a lot of support across the EP. Many more MEPs are deeply disappointed with the performance of the Juncker Commission, in particular the personal performance of the President, but forcing him to stand down before the 23 June UK In/Out Vote, would likely set Europe on a dangerous path. So, in the greater interests of the Europe, rather than respect for this Commission, the EFDD’s Resolution would not have succeeded.
Ironically, UKIP were said not to be supporting their Italian 5 Star colleagues who prepared the Motion of Censure.