Preguntas escritas dirigidas al Presidente del Consejo Europeo

Bruselas, 20 de julio de 2011
NOTA A LA ATENCIÓN DE LOS DIPUTADOS
Objeto:
Preguntas escritas dirigidas al Presidente del Consejo Europeo
Como quizás sepan ya los Diputados, en virtud del artículo 117 del Reglamento, existe ahora
la posibilidad de plantear al Presidente del Consejo Europeo preguntas con solicitud de
respuesta escrita.
Si bien el Presidente del Consejo Europeo no tiene la obligación formal de responder ante el
Parlamento Europeo, Herman Van Rompuy ha accedido a contestar a las preguntas escritas
de los Diputados que se refieran a su actividad política, como muestra importante de
transparencia.
Las preguntas escritas relativas a aspectos administrativos del Consejo Europeo deben seguir
remitiéndose al Consejo, puesto que es este último el que brinda la infraestructura
administrativa al Consejo Europeo. La Secretaría General del Consejo presta sus servicios a
ambas instituciones.
De ahora en adelante, las preguntas escritas formuladas por los Diputados al Presidente del
Consejo Europeo se remitirán empleando el nuevo modelo de presentación de preguntas
parlamentarias que se adjunta a la presente nota y que está también disponible en el sitio
web del Parlamento Europeo, en la siguiente dirección:
http://www.epintranet.ep.parl.union.eu/intranet/ep/lang/en/content/parliamentary_life/preside
nt_members/activities/questions_for_written_answer.
Jerzy Buzek
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Brussels, 20 June 2011
NOTE FOR THE ATTENTION OF MEMBERS
Subject:
New format of Question Time to the European Commission
At its meeting of 9 June 2011 the Conference of Presidents decided that Question Time to the
Commission should be organized according to a new format, with a view to transforming it into a
more dynamic interaction between Members and Commissioners and enhancing the interest of the
event for the media and general public alike.
The new format, based exclusively on the catch-the-eye procedure, will be put into effect from the
September I part-session for a trial period of 6 months. An evaluation will be carried out by the
Conference of Presidents early in 2012 before any definitive changes are agreed.
For the above mentioned trial period of six months, Question Time to the Commission will be
organised according to the following main guidelines:
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Question Time to the Commission will take place during each Strasbourg part-session and, if
necessary, during Brussels part sessions;
Each Question Time to the Commission will have a specific horizontal topic and will be based
exclusively on the catch the eye procedure (questions by Members alternating with answers by
Commissioners);
Three or more Commissioners with portfolios related to the chosen topic will all be present for
the full 90 minutes of Question Time;
The Vice President presiding Question Time will ensure that speaking time will be managed as
follows:
- 1 minute for a question and 30 seconds for a supplementary question by the Member,
- 2 minutes for a reply by a Commissioner, or 1 minute each if more than one Commissioner
wishes to take the floor.
At its next meeting of 30 June 2011 the Conference of Presidents will adopt the specific topics for
Question Time to the Commission for the September and October 2011 part-sessions.
From now on, therefore, questions by Members for Question Time to the Commission shall no
longer be submitted in writing to the competent services for the September 2011 and
subsequent part-sessions.
These changes relate to the procedure for Question Time to the Commission under Rule 116.
Questions submitted for written answer pursuant to Rule 117 of the Rules of Procedure are not
affected by this new format.
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