The European Parliament is often empty – here's how it wants to change that

https://www.europeancorrespondent.com/r/the-european-parliament-is-often-empty-heres-how-it-wants-to-change-that

42 points · 4 comments · view on lemmy.world

4 Comments

Parodper@foros.fediverso.gal · 22 pts · 1y (3 replies)

There's a quote in there:

For instance, it is not possible to interrupt a speaker at will, something that's common in many national parliaments.

Where? At least here in Spain, you can't interrupt the speaker when they have the floor. Doing otherwise seems like a recipe for disaster.

vollkorntomate@infosec.pub · 19 pts · 1y (1 reply)

In Germany, MPs can request to ask the speaker a question during their speech (Zwischenfrage). The president of the Bundestag then asks the speaker if they allow it. So it doesn’t end in chaos, but makes it possible to have a small debate during the speech

Parodper@foros.fediverso.gal · 10 pts · 1y

Now that you mention that, I seem to recall something similar does already exist in the EU Parliament. Blue Cards, which I think every MEP has a few of.

From the first article (which I admit I just skimmed the top of it):

And to spice things up further, the group is also planning to “hijack” next week’s debate by attending as a group and using the so-called Blue Cards system on each other to allow them to start an impromptu Q&A with the speaker, according to Boeselager, who coordinates the group.

Could be interesting to see how that turns out.

qyron@sopuli.xyz · 5 pts · 1y

Portugal here: interrupting a speaker is not condoned. First there is the chance to deliver whatever is there to be said, then there is a round of questions and answers, carefully timed, by the assembly head.