Peter Heesen and Fritz Neugebauer, the Presidents of CESI, congratulate the new President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz on his election.

Knowing that the President was elected in a period of huge challenges at the European level, Heesen and Neugebauer like to stress on the role the Parliament is playing to overcome the current crisis: as only directly elected organ of the European Union its weight must be taken into account when it comes to measures that deeply concern the life and economic situation of citizens.

Due to his long term experience as Member of the European Parliament and party group leader, Schulz meets perfectly the requirements of this important position in order to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of European decisions and to avoid that those are taken merely by governments without regard to citizens’ concerns.

Schulz is known to be a fierce defender of the Parliament’s rights who is able to give more visibility to the action and the position of this institution and its members in times of the crisis. Heesen and Neugebauer support his demand to involve the Parliament and its President when it comes to the elaboration of the new Euro-Treaty.

Only by fully integrating the different European bodies and by consulting the different groups of the civil society, the representation of European citizens can be guaranteed and more deception about politics can be avoided. For this task, the CESI presidents wish the new EP president all the best.