mr president i wish to congratulate my colleague marco cappato on his report
it is important that we are debating it here in parliament
when we speak of accountability and transparency we must start with ourselves and that means all of the eu institutions
i agree with much of the report
i have one or two caveats
for example we must ensure that if we provide information on members activities say that such information is comprehensive
otherwise we will end up knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing
by this i mean that our workload is really quite broad
it is not just attendance at committees or plenary
any such information on members activities would need to include all the activities
otherwise some very valuable work that is not concentrated in parliament could be lost because it would be invisible
i would like to say regarding my colleague mr romagnoli's comments that his good work was not picked up by the media that it is only news if you do not do your work
finally i would like to say that the core of the matter is that there should be transparency when we are acting in a legislative capacity
i agree with michael cashman that all citizens should know how their ministers vote in council
this is crucial
otherwise we play into the hands of the blame brussels brigade when something goes wrong at home
