MEP switches parties after expulsion threat

Date: 20/12/01

By Martin Banks

MEP Freddy Blak has controversially defected to the European Parliament's European United Left (GUE) group after being threatened with expulsion by the Danish Social Democrats.

He quit the assembly's 181-strong Party of European Socialists (PES) group after refusing to give up a council seat he won in a municipal election last month.

He had been warned before standing for election in the Danish town of Naestved that dual seats were banned under party rules. Blak is believed to have been approached by three other groups in the European Parliament, but opted for the hard-left GUE after being offered the plum post of budget control committee coordinator. In a message to his former PES colleagues, Blak described his decision to quit as "painful and sad".

He added: "You may have heard that I have had problems with my party at home. My crime is that I got voted onto the city council. I was promised a dispensation from the party's rule forbidding double mandates but the board decided against this at the last minute.

"Consequently, I have had to leave the party and, therefore, am also going to leave the group and will join the GUE instead. It is a difficult and painful decision after 12-and-a-half good years in the group." Blak, an MEP since 1989, plans to stand down at the next Parliamentary elections in 2004. Enrique Baron, PES group leader, said: "I regret that he's leaving and have a great deal of respect for what he has done for the group."

Danish MEP Freddie Blak has left the Party of European Socialists (PES) to join the European United Left (GUE), following a dispute with his local party in Denmark, December 2001.