European Parliament
Martin Schulz (PSE ).
(DE)
Mr President, while I cannot at the moment name the rule, I refer to what you have just said about the Council. I would like to say in this plenary what I said in the Conference of Presidents about the Council’s announcement of its inability to be present.
I do not regard a statement of that sort on the part of the Council as one that this House should accept. As I understand it, the Austrian Government is composed of 16 members and has 16 secretaries of state, which adds up to 32 people who ought to be in a position to represent the Council, even after seven in the evening. I think it is quite improper that a Council Presidency should declare itself unable to be present here after 7 p.m with no better reason than that Parliament's calendar has changed. I would like to know just what would happen in a national parliament if an executive were to tell it that it was knocking off for the evening at seven. That is not acceptable, and you should tell the Council so.
(Applause)

