Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant has voted in favour of a resolution on the scrutiny of the European Parliament on the on-going assessment of the national recovery and resilience plans but stated that this should not translate into direct interference in the national plans designed by individual Member States.
While expressing his reservations about the resolution, Labour MEP Alfred Sant stated that the European Parliament’s role is to scrutinise the European Commission’s performance in defending the pre-agreed targets, complex as they are, as adopted through the Regulation.
The purpose of the resolution is to support the scrutinizing by Parliament of the ongoing assessment of the national recovery and resilience plans by the Commission, and to ensure a swift adoption of the Council implementing decisions linked to the national plans.
It asks the Commission to assess the plans adequately and pin points serious concerns about the compliance of several measures in national plans with the requirements of the underlying Regulation and asks the Commission to provide
detailed justifications and explanations.
Alfred Sant noted that the Resolution contains a strong reference to the European Semester’s Country Specific Recommendations and added that recommendations tied to macroeconomic conditionality and relevant structural measures are already controversial in their own right.
“The obstinate resolve of various political factions to impose such recommendations over the social dimension that these national plans should have is reprehensible, especially in a moment where both society and economy are attempting to exit the biggest crisis in Europe since World War Two”, Alfred Sant told the plenary session of the European Parliament.
When assessing the national plans, the European Commission is taking into account a number of criteria together with horizontal principles and objectives such as gender equality, contributions to the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, contributions to the achievements of the EU’s 2030 climate targets and the ‘do no significant harm’ principle.
