A cross-party group of 73 Members of the European Parliament from 20 EU Member States has signed an open letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, voicing concern over the increasingly poor quality and late delivery of replies to parliamentary questions.

The initiative was launched by ECR’s Piotr Müller (PL), and backed by a broad range of MEPs, including members of the EPP, Renew and S&D, with particularly strong support from centre-right and other right-wing parties.

In the letter, the signatories criticise the Commission for often responding months late – or not at all – to formal questions tabled by MEPs, and for delivering vague or generic replies that do not meaningfully engage with the substance of the questions. “The European Parliament, as the representative of the citizens of the Union, has the right to expect reliable, timely and substantive answers to the questions we address to the Commission on its behalf,” the letter reads. The MEPs call on von der Leyen “to take urgent corrective action to restore timely discipline and ensure an adequate level of substance in the answers provided.”

ECR MEP Piotr Müller said:

“This is not a problem of one group – it is a widespread issue that affects all Members of the European Parliament, regardless of their political views. That is why MEPs from across the political spectrum have joined this appeal.”

The letter recalls that under Article 144 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament and Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Commission is legally obliged to answer parliamentary questions within a reasonable time – generally considered to be six weeks. However, the Commission often fails to meet this standard.

Müller warned that replies increasingly consist of boilerplate language or recycled press material that fails to address the question itself:

“We are seeing more and more generalised responses repeating public communications by the Commission, which add nothing new and fail to refer to the specific issues raised. This is not acceptable.”

He added:

“Parliamentary questions must not be treated as a bureaucratic formality. They are one of the key mechanisms of democratic control – and they must be taken seriously.”

Link to the letter here.