MEPs split over vote of no confidence in Commission

Date: 30/01/1997

By Michael Mann

MEPs are divided over whether to call an immediate vote of no confidence in the European Commission over its handling of the BSE crisis, or give it more time to carry out the reforms demanded by the Parliament's temporary committee of inquiry.

The committee is set to complete its report next Thursday (6 February), but not until it has worked its way through a total of 254 proposed amendments.

Despite pressure from the committee's more radical members for an immediate vote of no-confidence in the Commission, committee chairman Reimer Böge has expressed his preference for including a “conditional censure” motion in the final report.

This would give the Commission until the end of the year to complete the reforms demanded by Parliament. Failure to do so would bring a full censure motion, which would need the backing of two-thirds of the institution's 626 MEPs.

Belgian Socialist José Happart is leading calls for an instant vote of no confidence in the Commission, which would of necessity address all 20 Commissioners rather than individuals.

While the Parliament's priority is to improve safeguards in the light of the BSE saga, Böge has made no secret of the fact that “it is also a question of the balance of power between institutions”.

This is the first time that a temporary committee of inquiry - set up under new powers enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty - has completed its work.

Böge is anxious to ensure not only that its findings are fully respected by those found to have been at fault, but also that MEPs do not rush into over-hasty actions which could undermine the effectiveness of any future inquiries.

If the Parliament succeeds in forcing the Commission to make wide-ranging changes to its working methods, this would mark another important stage in MEPs' attempts to increase their role in the decision-making process.

There has been little indication so far of whether Commission President Jacques Santer's plans to move food safety and a number of the scientific advisory committees out of the control of the Directorate-General for agriculture (DGVI) and under the wing of Consumer Policy Commissioner Emma Bonino will go far enough to satisfy MEPs.

But Ken Collins, chairman of the Parliament's environment committee, said last week that he supported the separation of responsibility for food safety and farming policy, and pledged to fight to secure more EU money for public health protection during 1997.

Meanwhile, MEPs will wrestle with the small matter of the 254 proposed amendments to the draft report drawn up by Spanish Socialist Manuel Medina Ortega. The full Parliament will vote on the report on 19 February.