José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, has complained about the poor attendance by MEPs of his monthly question-time in the European Parliament.

According to an agreement signed last year between the Commission and the Parliament, Barroso is supposed to face questions in the Parliamentary chamber on the Tuesday afternoon of each plenary session in Strasbourg. But attendance at the hour-long session is so poor that he has questioned its value. Only a handful of MEPs regularly attend the question-and-answer session.

Joseph Daul, the leader of the centre-right group, the European People’s Party (EPP), acknowledged that attendance was problematic and said the Parliament was “reviewing” question-time’s relevance, but said: “There will be no change for the time being.”

Rebecca Harms, a co-leader of the Greens, said that while she could understand that Barroso was tired of the poor attendance, he had made a commitment that he would have to stick to.

“I normally go and therefore I expect him to come, as we agreed,” she said.

A spokesman for Barroso said that while the president was “keen to continue to invest in the format”, he has raised concerns over attendance in a letter and other communication with Jerzy Buzek, the Parliament’s president.

Free-flowing

Richard Ashworth, a UK Conservative MEP who sits on a panel considering reforms to Parliament’s business, said that question-time with the Commission president should be made more free-flowing.

He said that MEPs should have the right to ask questions spontaneously and that submitting prepared questions before the debate should no longer be permitted.

Click Here: cheap nrl jerseys

The panel has recommended that other European commissioners might also be invited to answer specific questions related to their policy areas.

The European Parliament’s political group leaders are to discuss reform proposals today (9 June).