Gift issue threatens interests vote

Date: 11/07/1996

By Rory Watson

A DISPUTE over whether parliamentarians should be allowed to accept gifts is threatening to scupper attempts to get agreement next week on new rules governing the conduct of MEPs and lobbyists.

Leaders of the European Parliament's two largest political groups - the Socialists and the Christian Democrats - will try and defuse the crisis before MEPs vote on the two proposals on Wednesday (17 July) during their plenary session in Strasbourg.

If they fail to broker an agreement, the Parliament will face an embarrassing set-back for the second time in six months in its efforts to lay down firm guidelines for lobbyists and to tighten up existing rules on MEPs' outside professional interests.

Socialist group leader Pauline Green intends to try to minimise the potential damage to the Parliament's image by delaying a vote if the dispute cannot be settled in time. She will warn her Christian Democrat opposite number Wilfried Martens that she will press for both proposals to be taken off next week's agenda and put on hold if no consensus emerges.

The bone of contention is the extent to which MEPs should be allowed to accept gifts in the course of their duties.

Breaking ranks with their parliamentary partners, a sizeable number of Christian Democrats want to relax the proposed rules tabled by French Liberal MEP Jean-Thomas Nordmann.

Under Nordmann's formula, members would have to declare in a register “any support, whether financial or in terms of staff or material, additional to that provided by Parliament and granted to the member in connection with his political activities by third parties, whose identity shall be disclosed”. A separate paragraph stipulates that no other gifts are acceptable.

German Christian Democrats in particular are planning to table an amendment next week to clarify the restrictions, arguing that only gifts likely to influence MEPs in the course of their mandate should be banned. They maintain that the proviso is necessary to prevent confusion over small items such as meals, flowers and cups of coffee.

The tactic is being widely condemned by MEPs of other political colours.

Some fear it could make the ban meaningless, while others claim it violates a unanimous agreement reached earlier by the Parliament's President Klaus Hänsch and the leaders of all the political groups.

“Martens gave his group's approval to the formula which the political leaders all agreed should be the basis of Nordmann's report in the rules committee. Indeed, they originally stipulated that gifts to MEPs' staff as well as to MEPs should be forbidden, but this restriction has now been limited to just the members themselves,” complained one senior official closely involved in the debate over the new rules.

British Conservative MEP Brendan Donnelly recognises the dangers to the Parliament if it fails to agree the proposals next week.

“The Nordmann report is not ideal. But it would be idiotic after all the work of the past few months if we did not come to a conclusion next week,” he said.

Although proposals on lobbyists tabled by British Socialist MEP Glyn Ford are less controversial, their fate could be determined by the outcome of the earlier vote next week on the revised rules for parliamentarians' interests.

In a bid to garner widespread support, Ford is proposing that lobbyists sign a register in exchange for a pass which must be worn prominently, but suggests the actual rules of conduct they would have to apply would be drawn up by the Parliament later this year.

The main hurdle both reports face is the need to gain the support of at least 314 members. Any split over the status of MEPs' gifts, or widespread absenteeism, could effectively kill both initiatives if they fail to cross this threshold.

The strongest opposition to the Nordmann report has consistently come from Green MEPs, who say it does not go far enough.

“If it is accepted, the situation will not change a single bit. It is much ado about nothing,” complained one official.

The Greens will press next week - almost certainly unsuccessfully - for MEPs to be required to state how much they earn from their outside activities. They also want a complete ban on gifts and outside help, and the introduction of uniform parliamentary rules on the declaration by members of their assets.

The compromise now on the table states that such declarations will be determined by national legislation. To date, the only countries considering such a requirement are Belgium and France.