MEPs urged to pull out of Commission censure motion

By Martin Banks

Date: 19/05/05

Pressure is being ratcheted up on MEPs to withdraw their names from a motion of censure of the European Commission, ahead of a debate scheduled for next Wednesday (25 May).

Six of the 79 deputies who signed the motion when it was submitted last week have now removed their names.

They are Zbigniew Kuzmiuk, Zdzislaw Podkanski, Czeslaw Siekierski and Janusz Wojciechowski, all of the Polish People's Party (PSL) and the centre-right EPP-ED group, and John Attard-Montalto, from Malta and Anna Hedh, from Sweden, both from the Socialists (PES).

The Eurosceptic Independence and Democracy (ID) group put down the motion, wanting to question Commission President José Manuel Barroso about accepting a gift of hospitality.

The ID group says it still has the 74 names necessary for the debate. Scottish MEP Alyn Smith, a member of the Greens/European Free Alliance group, has added his name to the motion.

The debate will come just four days before the French referendum on the draft EU constitution. A vote would not be held until next month's Strasbourg plenary (6-9 June).

A Parliament spokesman said that if the number of signatories fell below 74, it was possible the censure debate would not take place.

"The situation is very unclear because it is without precedent. We have asked our legal services to clarify things," he said.

As the censure motion would need to secure two-thirds of the votes cast as well as an absolute majority of all 732 MEPs, it is most unlikely to succeed.

The Commission President José Manuel Barroso told his fellow Commissioners yesterday (18 May) that he would go to the Parliament next week to take part in the debate.

He will be questioned about his links with Spiros Latsis, a Greek shipping and banking magnate.

Barroso had a week-long holiday last August on a boat belonging to Latsis, an old friend. His spokeswoman said the charges of improper influence were "unjustified and absurd".

The leaders of the four largest groups issued a joint statement last week opposing the motion of censure.

EPP group leader, Hans-Gert Pöttering, pledged that no member of his group would sign the motion and an EPP source admitted that EPP-ED signatories had been told they would be "expected" to remove their names from the motion.

Five British Conservatives, who are affiliated to the EPP-ED group, signed the motion: Roger Helmer, Chris Heaton-Harris, Martin Callanan, David Sumberg and Daniel Hannan.

The leader of the Conservative delegation, Timothy Kirkhope, has written asking them to remove their names.

Kirkhope said: "The main issue for me is not so much the substance of the motion of censure itself but the people who are associated with it. They include Communists, anti-Semitics, members of Sinn Féin and the UK Independence Party, that is, no one from any of the mainstream political groups. In the letter to my five colleagues, I point this out and my concern if they fail to withdraw from the motion."

Callanan said: "I signed the motion in good faith and believe it was the right thing to do."

A source close to the four Polish MEPs said they had withdrawn from the motion after "consultations" with the group leadership but denied they had coming under any unfair pressure.

Socialist MEP Anna Hedh said she had decided to withdraw her name because she had signed it in "error".

She said: "I am a new MEP and there was a misunderstanding. I thought it was a written declaration and not a censure against the Commission."

The leader of the 202-strong PES group Martin Schulz denied reports in the German press that he had been contacted by the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder over the issue.

Along with Caroline Lucas (UK) and Bart Staes (Belgium), Smith is one of three Greens/EFA signatories to the motion.

Article reports that leaders of the four largest groups in the European Parliament were urging MEPs to withdraw their names from a motion of censure of the European Commission, ahead of a debate scheduled for 25 May 2005. The Eurosceptic Independence and Democracy (ID) group had put down the motion, wanting to question Commission President José Manuel Barroso about accepting a gift of hospitality.