Dismay as heavyweights kicked out of Parliament

By Martin Banks

Date: 06/05/04

The European Parliament is set to lose several heavyweights, as leading MEPs haven't been selected as candidates for the June elections.

Veteran MEP Renzo Imbeni, previously tipped to be Parliament's next president, received with "shock and dismay" the news that he is not on the Italian Socialists' list of candidates.

The omission of Imbeni, one of the assembly's vice-presidents, has been a big shock for Parliament insiders, as he was seen, along with UK deputy Terry Wynn, as the leading Socialist candidate to succeed Pat Cox as the assembly's chairman.

Imbeni told European Voice that he had been assured until a few months ago by Piero Fassino, his party's leader, that he would be placed high on the list.

"I was shocked and dismayed to find out that I am not even on the list," he said.

"It was well known that I was a leading candidate for the post of president and to say that I [am disappointed I] will not now have the opportunity to run for that job is a gross understatement."

Imbeni, aged 60, has been an MEP since 1989.

Meanwhile, prominent Spanish Conservative members, such as Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, risk not being re-elected, as they have been placed in low positions on the Popular Party's list. Senior former ministers in José María Aznar's government, who found themselves out of jobs after the party lost the March elections, are occupying top positions on the list.

Méndez de Vigo and other present MEPs have been relegated due to "a sudden desire by former government ministers, who never before manifested any interest in Europe" to join the Parliament, one Popular Party insider said.

Only eight deputies appear on the list of top 20 candidates produced by the party.

One Parliament source said that many in the party reacted with "disbelief" at the list: "How convenient that, having lost their positions, they [the former ministers] now find themselves being parachuted into the European Parliament."

Méndez de Vigo, widely seen as being one of the stars of the current legislature, is in a lowly 18th place on the list. He runs the risk of not being re-elected as, according to opinion polls, the Spanish Conservatives are only likely to have 17-19 members in the new legislature.

"All I can say is that the distribution of places on the lists in Spain does not necessarily reflect an individual's merits but their seniority," Méndez de Vigo said. "If you need evidence look no further than the fact that several ex-government ministers and Parliamentary speakers are on the list.

"Despite being 18th I am still quietly confident of being re-elected," he added.

Other Spanish big hitters could also struggle to be back for the new Parliament when it meets again in July.

They include José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra and Salvador Garriga Polledo, numbers 20 and 22 on the list.

Among the Socialists, Germany's Christa Randzio-Plath, chairwoman of the powerful economic and monetary affairs committee, has decided not to run, after she was given such a low place on her party's list that she had virtually no chance of being elected.

Another big shock in the Socialist camp is the omission of French member Olivier

Duhamel from his party's list. A prominent member of the Convention on the future of Europe, Duhamel was this week said to be "bitter and shocked". His assistant said: "He was very keen to return and had done nothing whatsoever to warrant being left off the list."

Also under threat are two UK Conservatives, Earl Stockton, the grandson of late British prime minister Harold Macmillan, and Richard Balfe, one of the assembly's quaestors for the past 20 years.

Stockton is No. 5 on the list for the south-west England constituency. Richard Balfe, keen to continue as an MEP, is well down the list for the London region.

Another possible casualty is former Belgian social affairs minister Miet Smet, who has been squeezed off her party list by the country's former premier Jean-Luc Dehaene.

A number of other well-known faces are leaving Parliament, but out of choice.

They include former European Commission president Jacques Santer, former Italian home affairs minister Giorgio Napolitano and Spaniard José-María Gil-Robles, a former president of the assembly.

Some leading MEPs have not been selected by their political parties to stand at the European Parliament elections in June 2004.