New EPP-ED leader open to one seat for Parliament

The new leader of the European Parliament’s biggest political group says he favours re-opening the issue of where the EU’s institutions are based, but Strasbourg would have to be compensated with another institution if it is to lose the Parliament.

Frenchman Joseph Daul was speaking after his election on Tuesday (9 January) as president of the centre-right EPP-ED group. He emerged the victor after three rounds of voting ahead of his nearest rival Gunnar Hökmark, a Swedish MEP, by 134 to 115. Austrian MEP Othmar Karas was eliminated in the first round and Italian MEP Antonio Tjanani in the second.

Daul, who comes from Alsace, where Strasbourg is located, said the EPP-ED could not solve the controversial question of the Parliament’s Strasbourg seat, which has become more talked about after a campaign that saw one million signatures on a petition for the Parliament to have one seat. "If we look at the treaties you can see Strasbourg has the right to a European institution. If it’s not going to be the Parliament then something else should go there, the Court of Justice, the EIB [European Investment Bank]," said Daul.

It was up to the heads of state to solve the issue, though they had chosen not to do this at last June’s summit, Daul said. "The seats of all the institutions need to be talked about. I’m not going to be the next French president but if I were I would open the treaties and start those discussions with everybody else," he said.

He said the close vote for the EPP-ED leadership was a "reflection of the democracy that is thriving in our group" but he acknowledged the different views among those who voted for Hökmark, reported to be mostly UK Conservatives and MEPs from the new member states. "We need to understand each other better and establish policy lines better…our friends from the east want to see something different, they want to move faster than the old member states," he said.

One of the major divisions is over future enlargement of the EU, where pro-federalist MEPs in the EPP-ED are in particular opposed to Turkey’s membership. Daul said he was against Turkey joining the EU until it was "fully prepared". But he added: "I’m in favour of a privileged partnership at a high level… if it leads to European integration in the future then why not."

He said he would try to persuade the UK Conservative MEPs to stay in the EPP-ED, despite the intention of the party’s leader David Cameron to take his members out. But he said: "This is a democracy: it is up to each group to stay or go. It’s not up to me."

On agriculture he said he was in favour of reform and supported a multilateral deal at the World Trade Organization. As a farmer himself it was important that the agricultural community was prepared for change. "Let’s tell farmers in 2009 what’s going to happen in 2013 so they can adapt," said Daul.

The new leader of the European Parliament’s biggest political group says he favours re-opening the issue of where the EU’s institutions are based, but Strasbourg would have to be compensated with another institution if it is to lose the Parliament.