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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN EUROPEAN UNION POLITICS
SERIES EDITORS:
MICHELLE EGAN · NEILL NUGENT · WILLIAM E. PATERSON

Shaping Parliamentary
Democracy
Collected Memories from
the European Parliament

Edited by
Alfredo De Feo · Michael Shackleton
Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics

Series Editors
Michelle Egan
American University
Washington, USA

Neill Nugent
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, UK

William E. Paterson
Aston University
Birmingham, UK
Following on the sustained success of the acclaimed European Union
Series, which essentially publishes research-based textbooks, Palgrave
Studies in European Union Politics publishes cutting edge research-
driven monographs. The remit of the series is broadly defined, both in
terms of subject and academic discipline. All topics of significance con-
cerning the nature and operation of the European Union potentially fall
within the scope of the series. The series is multidisciplinary to reflect
the growing importance of the EU as a political, economic and social
phenomenon.

Editorial Board
Laurie Buonanno (SUNY Buffalo State, USA)
Kenneth Dyson (Cardiff University, UK)
Brigid Laffan (European University Institute, Italy)
Claudio Radaelli (University College London, UK)
Mark Rhinard (Stockholm University, Sweden)
Ariadna Ripoll Servent (University of Bamberg, Germany)
Frank Schimmelfennig (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Claudia Sternberg (University College London, UK)
Nathalie Tocci (Istituto Affari Internazionali, Italy)

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14629
 Alfredo De Feo · Michael Shackleton
Editors

Shaping Parliamentary
Democracy
Collected Memories from the European
Parliament
Editors
Alfredo De Feo Michael Shackleton
European College of Parma Department of Political Science
Parma, Italy Maastricht University
Maastricht, The Netherlands

ISSN 2662-5873 ISSN 2662-5881 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics
ISBN 978-3-030-27212-8 ISBN 978-3-030-27213-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27213-5

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG, part of Springer Nature 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover credit: Magic Lens/Shutterstock

This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Foreword

Forty years ago, in 1979, the European Parliament was elected for
the first time by universal suffrage and embarked on opening a new
chapter of its history, leaving behind times of its limited consulta-
tive role as Common Assembly of the Coal and Steel Community and
as Parliamentary Assembly of the European Communities. From 1979
onwards, the Parliament consistently expanded its competences, from the
initial consultative role on the European Communities’ budget to attain-
ing a full co-legislator role equal to that of the Council of the European
Union with approval authority on the appointment of the European
Commission.
When German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer opened the first plenary
session of the Common Assembly of the Coal and Steel Community on
13th September 1952 in his role as President of the Special Council of
Ministers, he framed the role and the objectives of this new Parliament
for Europe:

Vous êtes, en Europe, le premier Parlement souverain construit sur une

base supranationale. Grâce à la constitution de ce Parlement, les plans
que nous avons formés pour créer une nouvelle Europe ont fait un pro-
grès nouveau et considérable… Dans une certaine mesure, on peut com-
parer la position du Conseil et de l’Assemblée au rapport qui existe entre
deux chambres à l’intérieur de la vie constitutionnelle d’un Etat. (HAEU,
AC-151)

v
vi FOREWORD

With the Rome Treaties of 1957, the Common Assembly was expanded
to cover the Economic (EEC) and the Atomic Energy (Euratom)
Communities and was renamed European Parliamentary Assembly and
eventually European Parliament in 1962. In 1976 the Electoral Act for
the European Parliament was passed and the first direct elections fol-
lowed three years later. On 17th July 1979, President Simone Veil spoke
in front of the first directly elected Parliament saying:

For this is the first time in history, a history in which we have so frequently
been divided, pitted one against the other, bent on mutual destruction,
that the people of Europe have together elected their delegates to a com-
mon assembly representing, in this Chamber today, more than 260 mil-
lion people. Let there be no doubt, these elections form a milestone on
the path of Europe, the most important since the signing of the Treaties.
(HAEU, PE1-18240)

Looking back at the history of this unique transnational democratic

body, the main source of knowledge we derive from its rich past lies
within the historical records of the Parliament; the minutes of its ple-
nary and commission sessions, the acts of its governing bodies: the
Bureau and the Committee of Presidents, and finally the workings of its
administration.
These archives were opened to the public in 1983 and since 1986
deposited in the newly established Historical Archives of the European
Union at the European University Institute in Florence. Until today the
considerable amount of 130,000 archival files have been transferred to
Florence by yearly shipment and have been studied by numerous scholars
thanks to this ground-breaking decision.
The quest to better understand the historical role of the Parliament
within the European integration process and the EU institutional frame-
work allowed the idea to develop amongst Members of Parliament, offi-
cials, and historians to look beyond the written memory deposited at
the HAEU. Backed by other oral history projects, such as the research
“European Commission—History and memories of an institution”
of the European Commission, written by a consortium of renowned
European integration historians, the European Parliament eventually dis-
covered the value of investigation via the oral history approach.
A first project of the European Parliament Research Service focused
on interviewing former Parliament Presidents. Then the research group
 FOREWORD vii

“Collecting Memories: European Parliament 1979–2019”, consisting of

former EP officials, with the support of the Former Members Association
of the European Parliament, embarked on a project with broader scope.
The project has to date produced more than 100 interviews with for-
mer Members of Parliament and will continue after the publication of
this book, thus expanding the range of interviews and the network of
researchers involved.
The Historical Archives of the European Union supported the pro-
ject, offered the deposit and long-term provision for public access
to these interviews to the scholarly community as part of its oral his-
tory platform. The considerable and still growing set of interviews will
therefore be available to the public alongside other oral history projects
related to European institutions and broadly to the history of European
integration.
The main findings of these numerous interviews are presented in this
volume. They show readers key moments in the history of the European
Parliament, which, at the occasion of the European elections in May
2019, looks back on 40 years of direct elections.
Thanking the interviewers and authors of this volume for their
inspired research endeavour, it is my pleasure, as Director of the
Historical Archives of the European Union, to invite the readers to
unfold this oral history of the European Parliament seen through the
lens of its members.

Florence, Italy Dieter Schlenker

Director of the Historical
Archives of the European
Union, Villa Salviati
 Acknowledgements

This work has been made possible thanks to the enthusiasm of all the
Members of the European Parliament we have contacted. We could
not interview all of them, but the project of the Historical Archives will
remain open and we hope to add more contributions.
A special thanks to Dieter Schlenker, Director of the Historical
Archives of the European Union, who has not only encouraged us but
also offered the material support mainly through his colleagues, Juan
Alonso Fernandez and Barbara Garbagnati.
We are also indebted to Elisabetta Fonck who has also been crucial for
our relations with the Former Member Association.
Finally, we are grateful to our indexer Rohan Bolton for her work.
Last but not least our special thanks to Jan, Julia, Maria, Ruth, and
Susan, who have supported our work.

ix
 Praise for Shaping Parliamentary
Democracy

“Oral history brings the European Parliament to life. Readers of

Collecting Memories will enjoy insiders’ accounts of some of the most
important developments in the life of the EP in recent years. The book
provides a set of thematic chapters that drawn on the EP oral history
depository’s most cogent anecdotes and insights, and a primer on the
methodology of collecting and using an oral history archive.”
—Desmond Dinan, Professor at George Mason School of Public Policy,
Arlington, Virginia, USA

“The amazing development of the European Parliament over the past 4

decades exemplifies the constitutional revolution the European Union
has gone through so successfully. These personal testimonies will bring
that history to life again.”
—Klaus Welle, Secretary General of the European Parliament

xi
 Contents

1 Introducing Our Project 1

Alfredo De Feo and Michael Shackleton

2 Choosing the Parliament 11

Francis Jacobs

3 Working Inside the Parliament Machine 23

Gérard Laprat

4 Living Inside the Political Groups 37

Gérard Laprat

5 Playing a Part at Major Moments 49

Dietmar Nickel

6 Influencing and Shaping Policy 63

Alfredo De Feo

7 Scrutinising and Holding to Account 77

Michael Shackleton

8 Making a Mark Beyond the EU 89

Dietmar Nickel

xiii
xiv CONTENTS

9 Communicating the Work of the Parliament 101

Alfredo De Feo

10 Keeping in Touch with National Societies 111

Francis Jacobs

11 Looking to the Future 125

Michael Shackleton

Appendix 137

Index 153
 List of Contributors

Alfredo De Feo European College of Parma, Parma, Italy

Francis Jacobs University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Gérard Laprat Lecturer, École Nationale d’Administration, Strasbourg,
France
Dietmar Nickel Institute for European Integration, Hamburg,
Germany
Michael Shackleton Department of Political Science, Maastricht
University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

xv
 Abbreviations

ACTA Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

ALDE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
CCC Conference of Committee Chairs
CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy
COM Communist Group
CoP Conference of Presidents of Political Groups
ECB European Central Bank
ECJ European Court of Justice
ECR European Conservatives and Reformists
ECSC European Coal and Steel Community
EDG European Democratic Group
EEC European Economic Community
EP European Parliament
EPP European People’s Party
ERA European Radical Alliance
ETUC European Trade Union Confederation
EU European Union
Euratom European Atomic Energy Community
FE Forza Europa
GUE European United Left/Nordic Green Left
HAEU Historical Archives of the European Union
IGC Intergovernmental Conference
LGTB Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual
LIFE European Financial instrument for the environment
MEA Member of the European Assembly
MEP Member of the European Parliament

xvii
xviii ABBREVIATIONS

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PES Party of European Socialists
PNR Passenger Name Record
QMV Qualified Majority Voting
REACH Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and
Restriction of Chemicals
RoP Rules of Procedure
SEA Single European Act
SME Small and Medium-sized Enterprise
SWIFT Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
TACIS Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States
TEU Treaty on the European Union
TFEU Treaty on Functioning of the European Union
TFTP Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme
UEN Union for a Europe of Nations
UK United Kingdom
US United States of America
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