Fontaine’s move to break statute deadlock angers member states

Date: 02/11/00

By John Shelley

EUROPEAN Parliament Presi-dent Nicole Fontaine has sparked anger among EU governments by breaking off talks on proposed new pay and perks rules for MEPs.

Fontaine has told member states that she intends to draft a new version of the planned common statute for MEPs on her own, excluding government officials from the process.

Her aides say the move is aimed at breaking the deadlock over the most explosive elements of the package, such as plans to clamp down on the assembly's generous expenses system. They insist she is not trying to shut diplomats out, but rather has decided that the time has come for her to take the initiative. Many MEPs believe this is the only way to devise a formula which the full assembly will sign up to.

But EU diplomats claim the president has bowed to pressure from the Parliament's powerful anti-reform lobby, led by well-paid German members who are among those with the most to lose if radical reforms are adopted. They fear that as a result, the proposals she comes up with will be unacceptable to member states and will fail to address the critical reform issues. "We have been working very well until now. This decision is very brutal and very rude," said one. "The tone and atmosphere has now radically changed for the worse."

Diplomats say Fontaine's sudden decision to go it alone comes after several weeks of relatively productive work on the statute by a technical group set up by the French presidency. The group, chaired by Parliament Secretary-General Julian Priestley and French EU Ambassador Pierre Vimont, has made progress on the less controversial aspects of the plan but has achieved little on thornier sections, including pension and taxation rules for MEPs.

Both the Parliament and the French, who are leading the negotiations on behalf of member states, agreed that additional political impetus was needed to break the logjam. Paris called for talks between their European Affairs Minister Pierre Moscovici and parliamentary group leaders, but Fontaine vetoed this. Instead, she told diplomats that she would draw up a compromise paper which she will present to party group leaders next Thursday (9 November) and then to member states five days later.

Insiders say anti-reform German MEPs, led by the Parliament's rapporteur on the issue Willie Rothley, have been mobilising their forces in recent weeks to block progress in the negotiations. They believe Fontaine's decision reflects demands by German MEP Hans Gert Poettering, leader of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) in the assembly, that the statute should be drawn up by parliamentarians and not by the Council of Ministers. "Fontaine really feels that the EPP and the German Socialists could make life very hard for her. But if she gives them what they want, she knows it will be war with the Council," claimed one diplomat.

Member states are now hoping that pro-reform parties such as the Liberals and Greens will stir up enough of a fuss to make it impossible for Fontaine to give way to the assembly's conservative factions. But there are signs that even the reformers believe it will be politically impossible to push through the kind of far-reaching changes both they and member states would like.

"There is a very great risk that a very well negotiated package will be rejected when it comes up for final vote in the Parliament," said Green Group leader Heidi Hautala, who believes that Fontaine's decision to take the initiative might provide the best chance of finding a solution. "She knows all the positions and somebody at some point has to try to bring them all together.

European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine has sparked anger among EU governments by breaking off talks on proposed new pay and perks rules for MEPs.