Approval of Minutes of previous sitting
President
(FR) The Minutes of the sitting of Monday 14 January 2008 have been distributed.
Are there any comments?
Cristiana Muscardini
(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is very kind of you to give me the floor 20 minutes after I asked for it, even though I am right opposite the presidency. I want to speak for the record and for the sake of democracy in this Chamber.
The Presidency of Parliament and all the group chairmen must realise that two wrongs do not make a right. What is politically useful is not always politically correct and after listening today to the Grand Mufti we have to decide in a manner that is clear and unequivocal for all of us whether we in this Chamber follow the democratic provisions of the Rules of Procedure or follow the interest each individual may have according to circumstances.
A mistake was made this morning with regard to Parliament's Rules of Procedure and we will not correct that error by voting today in an empty Chamber. We are making another mistake to the detriment of democracy here. I am not saying on behalf of the UEN Group whether it is important to discuss the waste in Italy at 9 p.m. this evening or at 5 p.m. tomorrow, or whether it is important for explanations of vote to follow the vote, as has always been the custom in this Parliament, when the vote is expressed as it should have been this morning. I do ask you, however, Mr President - and you may cut me off, that does not interest me at all - what this Parliament's Rules of Procedure say? Do you know? In regard to this question, you want to reply to this deserted Chamber that it should vote on the basis of those who were given the floor and not those who wanted to express an independent view! That is madness!
President
(FR) Madame President, I trust my tone will be as measured as your own was agitated. I gave you the floor because I wished to know whether you were for or against approval of the Minutes of Monday 14 January. You had nothing to say on that point. I was, however, courteous enough to hear you out and I hope that our colleagues will be similarly appreciative of the manner in which you chose to address the House.
I shall take it, therefore, that there are no comments, as Madame President is not seeking the floor again.
(The Minutes of the previous sitting were approved.)


17. Adaptation of a number of instruments to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, 'omnibus' Regulation, Part Four (
- Before the vote
Margot Wallström
Vice-President of the Commission. - Mr President, the Commission welcomes the agreement reached in first reading on the last of our four proposals on the alignment of existing legislative acts in the new comitology procedure with scrutiny.
In the framework of this agreement, the Commission would like to make two statements, the text of which I will hand over to your services in order to include them in the record of this sitting.
The first statement concerns a commitment of the Commission concerning the transmission of draft measures to the European Parliament when the time limits have been curtailed, and the second statement relates to the application of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny as regards the procedural rules for the updating of the Community blacklist of air carriers subject to an operating ban.
Commission statements
Transmission of draft measures to the European Parliament
The time-limits within which the European Parliament and the Council may oppose a draft measure, according to Article 5a(3)(c) of Council Decision 1999/468/EC, have been curtailed to four weeks or one month, in some provisions of the following basic acts: Directive 2004/17/EC, Directive 2004/18/EC and Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005. When transmitting draft measures to the European Parliament and to the Council in application of those provisions, the Commission commits itself, except during the European Parliament's periods of recess, to take into account the necessity for the European Parliament to hold a plenary session before the expiration of the relevant curtailed time-limits, and reiterates its commitments under the Agreement between the European Parliament and the Commission on procedures for implementing Council Decision 1999/468/EC, as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, in particular in respect of the early warning system provided for in paragraph 16 thereof.
(FR) Application of the regulatory procedure
The Commission notes with regret the decision to apply the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005. It would like to stress, in this connection, that the implementing measures referred to in that article are procedural and administrative in nature and that they provide details of rules already laid down in the basic act. The Commission would reiterate how important it is to guarantee the highest possible level of aviation safety. It uses strict, internationally recognised criteria, applied objectively, to achieve this goal; this has always been the case when the blacklist has been updated since Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005 entered into force. In the Commission's view, work on this matter should continue to be based solely on technical criteria, and it therefore feels that the procedural rules should, in any event, continue to guarantee a high level of safety and effectiveness.