Árpád Duka-Zólyomi

My speeches in plenary you can find on this site.

Speeches in plenary are regulated by Rules 141-143 of the Rules of Procedure of the EP:

Rule 141  : Calling speakers and content of speeches

1.    Members may not speak unless called upon to do so by the President. Members shall speak from their places and shall address the Chair; the President may invite them to come to the rostrum.

2.    If speakers depart from the subject, the President shall call them to order. A speaker who has already been called to order twice in the same debate may, on the third occasion, be forbidden by the President to speak for the remainder of the debate on the same subject.

3.    Without prejudice to his other disciplinary powers, the President may cause to be deleted from the reports of debates of sittings the speeches of Members who have not been called upon to speak or who continue to speak beyond the time allotted to them.

4.    Speakers may not be interrupted except by the President. They may, however, by leave of the President, give way during their speech to allow another Member, the Commission or the Council to put a question to them on a particular point in their speech.

Rule 142  : Allocation of speaking time

1.    The Conference of Presidents may propose to Parliament that speaking time be allocated for a particular debate. Parliament shall decide on this proposal without debate.

2.    Speaking time shall be allocated in accordance with the following criteria:

(a)    a first fraction of speaking time shall be divided equally among all the political groups;

(b)    a further fraction shall be divided among the political groups in proportion to the total number of their members;

(c)    the Non-attached Members shall be allocated an overall speaking time based on the fractions allocated to each political group under subparagraphs (a) and (b).

3.    Where a total speaking time is allocated for several items on the agenda, the political groups shall inform the President of the fraction of their speaking time to be used for each individual item. The President shall ensure that these speaking times are respected.

4.    No Member may speak for more than one minute on any of the following: the minutes, procedural motions, amendments to the final draft agenda or to the agenda.

5.    The Commission and Council shall be heard in the debate on a report as a rule immediately after its presentation by the rapporteur. The Commission, the Council and the rapporteur may be heard again, in particular to respond to the statements made by Members.

6.    Without prejudice to Article 197 of the EC Treaty, the President shall seek to reach an understanding with the Commission and Council on appropriate allocation of speaking time for them.

7.    Members who have not spoken in a debate may, at most once per part-session, hand in a written statement of not more than 200 words that shall be appended to the verbatim report of the debate.

Rule 143  : List of speakers

1.    The names of Members who ask leave to speak shall be entered in the list of speakers in the order in which their requests are received.

2.    The President shall call upon Members to speak, ensuring as far as possible that speakers of different political views and using different languages are heard in turn.

3.    On request, however, priority may be given to the rapporteur of the committee responsible and to the chairs of political groups who wish to speak on behalf of their groups, or to speakers deputising for them.

4.    No Member may speak more than twice on the same subject, except by leave of the President.

The chair and the rapporteur of the committees concerned shall, however, be allowed to speak at their request for a period to be decided by the President.