Left’s election disaster triggers top job shake-up in Parliament

Date: 17/06/1999

By Gareth Harding
VIRTUALLY all of the top jobs in the European Parliament look set to change hands following the centre-right's spectacular victory in last weekend's elections.

The leadership of the assembly, its political groups, and its key committees are up for grabs as MEPs embark on a month of horse-trading and jockeying for key positions in the Strasbourg-based chamber.

As the largest group in the Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP) has the right to select one of its members to be the new assembly's first president. Assuming it opts to exercise this right, which seems likely, current Vice-President Nicole Fontaine is almost certain to be chosen.

If, however, the Christian Democrats decide to take the post in the second half of the Parliament's five-year term, veteran Socialist Mario Soares is tipped to take over from the present incumbent José María Gil-Robles. The Portuguese ex-president is the only MEP to have openly declared his candidacy for the post and last night (16 June) won the backing of the 180-strong Socialist Group.

The disastrous showing of the Labour Party in the UK has left the German Social Democrats as the group's biggest national bloc. They could use their weight to try to propel ex-Parliament President Klaus Hänsch into his old job if the Socialists get first bite at the cherry. Failing that, Hänsch is odds-on favourite to take over from British MEP Pauline Green as Socialist leader.

One senior parliamentarian said that "the knives are out for Pauline" after the group's poor showing in the elections and most members agree that the ex-policewoman has little chance of returning to her old beat in July. Already unpopular with German, Spanish and Italian Socialists for her mishandling of the Commission crisis in January, Green's grip on power has been further weakened by the loss of more than half Labour's 62 MEPs.

The French Socialists, who did particularly well in last weekend's poll, are also said to be "seething with anger" at their British counterparts after UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder launched a markedly un-Socialist blueprint for Europe's centre-left on the eve of the Euro-elections. Socialist party chiefs this week agreed to set up a committee of inquiry into the election disaster.

The Christian Democrats are on the look out for a new leader after their present head, Wilfried Martens, unexpectedly decided to step down in April. The post will almost certainly go to the German Christian Democrats, who cemented their position as the EPP's largest national contingent in the elections. The smart money is on Hans-Gert Poettering to become arguably the most powerful politician in the Parliament. Currently vice-president of the group, Poettering is well-liked but lacks the political gravitas of his main rival Elmar Brok.

Irish Liberal Pat Cox is likely to survive as head of the assembly's third largest group, despite the surge of support for the UK Liberal Democrats. But the Greens might be tempted to trade in their present leader Magda Aelvoet for the charismatic chief of the French Greens Daniel Cohn-Bendit after his party's strong showing in the poll.

The end of the Euro-election campaign has also kicked off a frantic race by the main political groups to secure the support of smaller parties. The Liberals are hoping to lure newly elected MEPs from the Italian Democrat and Radical parties, and the Greens are expected to court regionalist MEPs in the UK and Spain.

But the greatest speculation surrounds the fate of the 36 British Conservative members after the far-right Alleanza Nazionale party admitted to holding talks with the party last year. Many believe that the Tories, who are fiercely opposed to the euro, will find it difficult to remain in the same party as the staunchly pro-EU Christian Democrats.