Parliament restricts European political groups.

THROUGH THE EU LABYRINTH:
(The European Foundation)   August 2008
Margarida Vasconcelos
Parliament restricts European political groups

  The so called house of democracy has delivered another blow to 
democracy. From 2009 it will be much more difficult to create a 
political group at the European Parliament. From then on, it will be 
necessary to have 25 members representing a minimum of seven 
countries. Several members would be denied the democratic right to 
integrate a group of their choice being forced to sit as non-attached 
members or to take part in a group which might not fully share the 
same convictions and views.

Richard Corbett MEP [the socialist and virulently federalist who is 
opposed as much to his own country as to the EU -cs]  recently 
proposed a draft report on amendment of Rule 29 of the European 
Parliament’s Rules of Procedure concerning the formation of political 
groups. The Labour MEP proposed to increase the number of MEPs 
necessary to form a political group which is presently set at twenty 
(representing 2.5 per cent of the total number of MEPs) to thirty 
(representing 4 per cent of the total number of MEPs in a Parliament 
of 750 MEPs). The European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs 
Committee voted on the report on 27 May and by a majority of just 
one, Corbett’s proposal was rejected. All groups had voted against 
the idea of increasing the threshold with the exception of the EPP-ED 
[the Franco-German dominated federalist group in which the Tories at 
present are the “ED” bit.  They are due to quit at the next election -
cs]  and the PES [Socialists] .

Notwithstanding this rejection, Jo Leinen, the President of the 
Committee decided that the committee members should vote on the 
remaining amendments. An amendment was approved allowing a political 
group to continue to exist if it follows below the required threshold 
until the next constitutive sitting. The amended report was adopted 
but without the Corbett proposal to increase the threshold. In a show 
of protest against the vote on the threshold of political groups, 
ALDE, UEN, Greens, GUE and IND-DEM coordinators wrote a letter to the 
President of the European Parliament. They believed that the vote on 
the amendments was an “abuse of procedure” as it took place whilst 
the MEPs had already rejected the bulk of the report. Consequently, 
they have asked Pöttering for the report to be sent back to the 
committee. However, the text was brought to the plenary in the July 
session. Amendments to the European Parliament Rules of Procedure 
must be adopted by a majority of the component Members of Parliament.

A compromise was reached between most of the political groups which 
sets the threshold at 25 MEPs from seven countries. On 9 July the 
European Parliament voted to increase the threshold to create a 
political group. Presently, to form a political group, 20 members 
representing at least one fifth of the Member States (6 countries) is 
needed. The European Parliament has agreed to change its rules of 
procedure to increase the threshold to 25 MEPs (3.3 per cent of total 
membership), representing at least one quarter of the Member States 
(7 Member States). Such a move was adopted with 481 votes in favour, 
203 against and 26 abstentions. Obviously, the EPP and the PES, the 
Parliament’s largest political groups, fully supported the increase 
of the threshold.  The Greens, GUE and UEN groups have decided to 
vote in favour of the compromise as it was not as detrimental as 
Corbett’s proposal. The ALDE group voted against the compromise as 
well as the Ind-Dem which has 22 members.[ inc UKIP-cs]

An amendment was also approved in which if a group falls below the 
required threshold, the President of the European Parliament may 
allow the group to continue to exist until the end of the term if it 
still represents a fifth of Member States and it has been established 
for more than a year. The new rules will come into force when the 
European Parliament starts its next term after the June 2009 European 
elections. It seems that such amendments to the European Parliament’s 
rules of procedure were almost designed to target eurosceptic groups. 
The survival of the Independence/Democracy Group is at threat at the 
next European elections as it presently has 22 members. Moreover, the 
Europe of the Nations (UEN) group has 44 members but they represent 6 
Member States therefore it might fail to meet the member state 
threshold in the next election. The Movement for European Reform 
which is presently supported by the Czech Civic Democratic Party 
(ODS), the British Conservative Party and the Bulgarian Union of 
Democratic Forces (UDF) must definitely find more support as 
presently a political group is composed of MEPs elected from at least 
six Member States and from 2009, it would be required, under the 
threshold, to have a quarter – which means seven Member States.