6
Feb
2024
Watch
Calling on the Council to take all necessary steps to reach an agreement on the European cross-border mechanism file and open negotiations with Parliament (debate)
Madam President, Minister, ladies and gentlemen! I very much welcome the fact that the Commission has presented an amended proposal for the mechanism to revise cross-border barriers; He also takes this house seriously. We adopted a legislative own-initiative report here in September last year – I was able to work on it together with Mr Gozi. Unfortunately, the Council has sent out the old proposal for years, and I hope that we will now have a new activity as a whole. This shows that the Council – the Member States – does not always take the situation at the borders very seriously. This is also evident in other things, such as Interreg. But I think – and I say that as someone who lives on the border and also on a very special border like the Brenner border: Europe begins above all at its borders. I think we need to protect cooperation at borders and we need to improve it. There are minor bureaucratic and legal differences on both sides of the border, and it often leads to major obstacles when administrations, if the population wants to work together. This applies to different requirements in cross-border public transport, access to health systems, mutual recognition of training and much more. Now we have a new, amended proposal from the Commission. I think that this proposal, Minister, takes into account the guidelines and the ideas of the Council, especially with regard to subsidiarity and proportionality. I would really like it to be fast, especially faster than last time, so that we can really get this regulation off the ground. I think that would be a real step forward for our European cooperation.