"The development of a European Parliament, a diverse multilingual body representing the people of 27 member states is a unique and unprecedented achievement in international cooperation" says Labour's Leader in Europe Gary Titley MEP.
"However, the best way to celebrate 50 years of the European Parliament is to establish one seat and to get rid of the current travelling circus between Brussels and Strasbourg" continued Gary Titley MEP.
When it was created in 1958 as the European Assembly, it had 142 members and it had limited consultation powers. Since then several reforms in the EU decision making process such as those of Treaty of Amsterdam in 1991 have made it into a key player in the legislative and budgetary processes of the EU, and a democratic counterweight to the European Commission. The Lisbon Treaty, which is in an EU wide process of ratification, will further increase the efficiency and input of the European Parliament in 2009.
2009 is also the year of European elections where European citizens will have the chance to vote for their representatives to govern and develop the European Union for the following 5 years.
The anniversary of the European Parliament will be celebrated on the 12th March with its president Hans-Gert Pöttering, presidents of the Council and Commission. Representatives of the House of Commons and House of Lords will also attending.
For more information please call the European Parliamentary Labour Party press officer, Silke Thomson on +32 479 790 053.
European Parliamentary Labour Party, European Parliament, Rue Wiertz, 1047 BRUSSELS, Belgium -
Tel: 00 32 2 28 43736 Fax: 00 32 2 28 49061
