mr president intergroups have a long and distinguished history in this parliament
in intergroups meps can unite across the political divide to deal with particular issues
for example the oldest intergroup the one on disabilities vets legislation that goes through this parliament to be sure that it is disability-friendly and educates other parliamentarians about disability issues
despite the valuable work of intergroups they have been marginalised over the last year and effectively they are being shut down by in-house parliamentary rules that refuse intergroups meeting rooms and slots in the schedule of the strasbourg sitting
i think we need to sort this out quite urgently before the next term because otherwise intergroups will be a thing of the past parliament will be much poorer for their extinction and the people of europe will not be as well served
