Misbehaving MEPs face ban and fines

By Martin Banks

Date: 10/03/05

MEPs who misbehave in the European Parliament could soon face suspension for up to ten days and a fine, it has been revealed.

Parliament leaders will next week put forward proposals for new disciplinary measures against rowdy members.

These include a suspension of the €268 daily allowance payable to each member and a ban on the offending MEP attending plenary and committee meetings.

The move comes in response to what some see as a decline in standards of behaviour among some MEPs.

But the proposal, from Parliament's administration, is likely to run into opposition when it is discussed on Monday (14 March) by members of the constitutional affairs committee, which is responsible for Parliamentary rules of procedure.

One member said: "Many MEPs simply do not see the need for any changes to the rules. Rules already exist for dealing with members who misbehave. The problem is that they have not been enforced."

Under current rules, Josep Borrell, the Parliament's president, can expel from the hemicycle an MEP who misbehaves. But he has no powers to impose a financial penalty or bar him from meetings.

The new measures being proposed, which need to be approved by the full plenary, would allow Borrell to suspend the members' rights altogether.

This would include suspension of the daily allowance for up to ten days.

The offending member's other allowances, including the travel expenses, would not be affected.

It is not yet clear exactly what would constitute misbehaviour. It is thought this would be something for Borrell or the Parliament's bureau (composed of the president and the 14 vice-presidents) to rule upon.

It would be up to the president - and a vote in full plenary - to decide if disciplinary measures should be imposed on a member.

Concern has been expressed in recent months about MEPs, including the Polish League of Families' deputies, who insist on displaying their national flags on their desks in the hemicycle.

Others, such as the UK Independence Party, have also fallen foul of Borrell for waving placards and banners during plenary debates.

One MEP said: "Many members generally disapprove of this sort of thing but it is symptomatic of a distinct decline in behaviour among MEPs during plenary sessions in recent times. I and many others think it is time something was done about it."

A Parliamentary source said that the ball was "in the court of the constitutional affairs committee. It is up to them to decide if this goes any further".

A spokesman for the centre-right European People's Party (EPP-ED) group, the largest in the Parliament, gave a guarded reaction to the move, saying: "We will work with the constitutional affairs committee to ensure that any changes to the current rules are reasonable and effective."

MEPs who misbehave in the European Parliament were to face suspension for up to ten days and a fine, article reports.

European Parliament leaders were to put forward proposals for new disciplinary measures against rowdy members to be discussed in the discussed Constitutional affairs committee, which is responsible for Parliamentary rules of procedure, 14 March 2005.