17-21 February European Parliament plenary

Date: 27/02/1997

MEPs deployed one of their ultimate sanctions when they tabled a censure motion against the European Commission. Although the initiative, led by Belgian Socialist MEP José Happart, was easily defeated, it demonstrated the depth of parliamentary disapproval of Commission President Jacques Santer and his colleagues over their handling of the BSE crisis. Largely supported by Communist and Green MEPs and French members from across the political spectrum, the motion attracted 118 votes, but was opposed by 326, with 15 abstaining. The censure attempt was the fourth launched by the Parliament since it was first directly elected in 1979. If it had succeeded, the Commission would have been forced to resign en masse for the first time. Instead of wielding the axe straight away, MEPs followed the advice of the Socialist and Christian Democrat Group leaders, Pauline Green and Wilfried Martens, and took a longer-term view. In a separate resolution, they placed the Commission on probation as they overwhelmingly endorsed the findings of the special parliamentary inquiry into the BSE crisis. In one of the best-attended votes in recent years, they decided by 422 votes to 49, with 48 abstentions, to give the Commission several months to implement a series of reforms and to judge its performance in November, at the latest.

AS PART of their wider campaign to tighten up the Union's defences against fraud and financial mismanagement, MEPs refused to give their seal of approval to the EU's 1992 farm accounts. Their stand followed a report from the Court of Auditors revealing that 895 million ecu from the Union's budget could not be accounted for. MEPs insisted that the Commission should appoint more anti-fraud inspectors and argued that greater efforts should be made in future to recover the full amount of misappropriated sums from member states.

INTERNAL Market Commissioner Mario Monti confirmed to the Parliament that he would table draft legislation on the cross-border sale of financial services by September. The pledge came as MEPs criticised the lack of protection currently available to EU citizens. Arguing for stronger safeguards, Italian Socialist MEP Elena Marinucci warned that unscrupulous operators were now taking advantage of the single market to offer dubious cross-border investment opportunities. But Monti also announced that he intended to postpone legislation on credit cards and home banking.

RUSSIA'S failure to sign the Energy Charter agreed in The Hague six years ago by 50 negotiating parties was criticised by MEPs, who see the treaty as an essential weapon in the battle against illegal trafficking in radioactive substances. The charter, which is designed to promote international cooperation in energy supplies, is also considered a valuable framework for the dismantling of nuclear weapons. Emphasising the importance of the charter, Finnish Christian Democrat MEP Marjo Matikainen-Kallström predicted that it could help achieve energy savings of 30&percent; to 40&percent; in central and eastern Europe.

FOLLOWING recent racially motivated attacks in several member states, the Parliament strongly condemned all acts of racism and intolerance. But while MEPs were united in attacking racial violence and discrimination, they were divided over demands for the repeal of new anti-immigration controls now going through the French parliament. The resolution also called for urgent measures to tackle the underlying causes of racism: petty crime, unemployment and urban decay.

THE controversy over whether or not to press ahead with a ban on imports of furs from animals caught using leghold traps continued to blight relations between MEPs and the Commission, as the latter was accused of ignoring its mandate not to permit imports of pelts from countries still using the controversial methods. The dispute was reignited as the Commission tried to win approval from EU foreign ministers this week for a draft deal reached last year with Canada and Russia which set so-called 'humane' standards for trapping animals. Such a ploy, said the Parliament, displayed “contempt for the competence of the Environment Council”.

THE parliamentary seat left vacant earlier this month by bankrupt French businessman and former Radical MEP Bernard Tapie was filled this week. His successor in the European Radical Alliance Group is Michel Scarbonchi, a Corsican and leading member of the French Radical Party.