Call to widen contest for presidency

Date: 17/10/1996

By Rory Watson

OPPOSITION is growing among MEPs to political deals which are paving the way for a Spanish christian democrat to become the next president of the European Parliament.

Although the new president will not be formally elected until January, the next holder of the post will effectively be chosen by christian democrat MEPs within the coming month.

A long-standing agreement between the two main political groups stipulates that the two-and-a-half-year presidency rotates between socialists and christian democrats, with a representative of the latter now set to take over from German socialist Klaus Hänsch.

But critics fear that an unofficial deal four years ago between the leaders of German and Spanish christian democrats has already determined that the European People's Party (EPP) candidate will be Spanish.

It was widely thought at the time that the EPP standard-bearer would be former Commissioner Abel Matutes. But with the change of government in Spain, Matutes left the Parliament to become his country's foreign minister. Now José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado is hot favourite for the job.

But one EPP member said this week. “Frankly, some members who were not even elected when the deal was struck are wondering why they should be bound by something in which they had no say and which was effectively decided by two people.”

Members of the Parliament's smaller political groups and those from smaller countries fear that the presidency post is becoming a preserve of MEPs from the EU's biggest member states and complain that the vast majority of parliamentarians have no say in the final outcome.

“The presidency of the Parliament has gained in political importance in recent years. It must be decided on merit, not by back-room deals. The Parliament is beyond the stage where you can put party politics ahead of the legitimate interests of the institution. The time has come for the rot to stop,” said Liberal group leader Gijs de Vries.

The growing clamour for an open contest to choose the eighth president of the directly-elected Parliament has already convinced French EPP member Nicole Fontaine to challenge Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado for the EPP nomination.

But seasoned observers of the parliamentary stakes do not rule out the possibility of other candidates emerging.

Greek New Democracy

MEP Georgios Anastassopoulos revealed this week: “I am also ready to stand and I have already explained that to quite a few of my colleagues.”

Speculation is also growing that the leader of the EPP group, former Belgian premier Wilfried Martens, may be tempted to stand if his colleagues cannot agree on a clear candidate. But others feel he would probably prefer to remain as leader of the EPP group and of the party at large.

Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, a vice-president and former chairman of the institutional affairs committee, denies that the election will be determined by any behind-closed-doors deal-making.

“It is natural that people who feel ready to stand should do so. That is democratic, but it is important to accept the final outcome. I, and my delegation, feel that I could fill the presidency position and that is why I have been proposed,” he said.

Fontaine is the Parliament's senior vice-president and has also played a central role in the development of MEPs' co-decision powers by leading their conciliation delegation in negotiations with EU governments.

The French MEP firmly rejects charges that, if successful, she would side with Strasbourg in the war of attrition with Brussels over the seat of the Parliament - insisting that the Parliament's extra workload makes it necessary to continue holding mini-plenary sessions in Brussels alongside the week-long Strasbourg meetings.

“In December 1992, the Edinburgh European Council decided on the seat of the Parliament. I have observed that since then President Hänsch has scrupulously respected this agreement and constantly maintained the balance which has grown up between Strasbourg and Brussels . If elected, I would respect this balance and implement it as scrupulously,” she pointed out.

The next president will be in office during a key period of the Union's development. The two-and-a-half-year term will include the completion of the Intergovernmental Conference, with its consequences for the Parliament's role in the EU; preparations for the move to a single currency and enlargement; and the build-up to the 1999 European elections.