Newcomer MEPs yet to wield influence

By Martin Banks

Date: 09/12/04

THEY include former prime ministers, government ministers and sporting world champions.

But the influence MEPs from new member states currently wield in the European Parliament is not necessarily reflected by their numbers.

There are 162 new member state deputies out of 732 (22% of the total) but they occupy only 14 (18.6%) of 75 positions on the assembly's four key governing bodies.

Half of the 14 come from Poland, the biggest of the ten countries that joined the EU on 1 May.

Parliament's 15-strong bureau, the institution's powerful inner circle which includes its President, Josep Borrell, and 14 vice-presidents, boasts three new member state MEPs: Poles Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, of the European People's Party (EPP-ED), Liberal Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a former defence minister, and Czech Miroslav Ouzky (EPP-ED).

Only three of Parliament's 20 committees are chaired by new member state MEPs, although they do include two of the most important ones, budgets and budgetary control, chaired by Janusz Lewandowski, an EPP-ED member from Poland and Hungarian Socialist Szabolcs Fazakas. Another Pole, Marcin Libicki, chairs the petitions committee.

The newcomers fare a little better when it comes to chairmanships of Parliamentary delegations, chairing seven out of 36. These are still dominated by 'old' member state MEPs, with the UK, Germany and France leading 14.

Polish Socialist Genowefa Grabowska is the only new member state MEP among the five-strong quaestors, responsible for the day-to-day running of MEPs affairs.

There are 26 new member state deputies out of 112 who make up the policy-shaping bureau on each of the assembly's four biggest political groups.

The EPP-ED, the largest group, has 17 out of 80 bureau members, the Party of European Socialists (PES), one out of nine, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), eight out of 16, while the Greens have none. The Greens have only one new member state deputy, a Latvian, out of 42 MEPs.

The EPP-ED, PES and ALDE have three group vice-presidents from new member states out of a total of 22.

Less than a handful of new member state MEPs have been nominated as rapporteur of a Parliamentary report although one of the more important dossiers - discharge of the assembly's €1 billion accounts for 2003 - has gone to Ona Jukneviciene, a Lithuanian Liberal MEP and former World Bank official.

The new member state deputies include vastly experienced politicians such as Jerzy Buzek and Alojz Peterle, former prime ministers of Poland and Slovenia, ex-Solidarity leader Bronislaw Geremek, government ministers and even a hockey legend, the Slovak Peter Stastny.

But, in the five months since they started work following their election in June, exactly what impact have they had?

The fact that, in the early days of its new legislature, Parliament has been preoccupied more with hearings for incoming European Commission members rather than the usual diet of legislative matters, has not helped new member state MEPs make their mark.

One senior Parliamentary source said that it would be wrong to judge them solely on their representation on official Parliamentary bodies.

"It is not just about which committee or delegation they chair," he said. "Many have been reticent about getting fully involved so far because it is all still new to them and they are still learning the ropes."

ALDE member Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a member of parliament for 13 years and former Solidarity spokesman, said: "I am enjoying being an MEP and, yes, I believe we have made an impact, not least in making our colleagues aware of the importance of their new eastern neighbours.

"It has been difficult though because we've had to start from scratch and often enter the middle of debates, such as the EU budget, which have been carried over from the previous Parliament."

Onyszkiewicz remarks that one key difference from being an MP is that the Parliament has no legal initiative. "It would be nice to launch legislation rather than simply lobbying the Commission. But forming coalitions with other groups is one thing I have not found difficult because, in Poland, we are used to that," he said.

UK MEP Graham Watson, leader of the ALDE group, which unsuccessfully nominated Geremek, a former Polish foreign minister, for Parliament's presidency, said that many of the new MEPs were still "finding their feet". "They have, though, integrated themselves very quickly into the workings of both our group and the Parliament," he added.

EPP-ED leader Hans-Gert Pöttering said that his group had gone to "considerable lengths" to integrate the new recruits and insists that they have made a "very positive" impact.

"We have also tried to involve them in every decision-making organ of our group," he said.

Socialist group leader Martin Schulz believes that "the new members are playing a full role at all levels. In particular, they have awakened us to many new issues".

His comments are echoed by Nick Blow, director of Brussels-based European affairs consultants Cabinet Stewart, who singles out two in particular: Buzek, for his work on the industry committee, and his compatriot Malgorzata Maria Handzlik.

Blow said that some new members clearly want to make their mark quickly. "Some, such as Buzek and Handzlik, have already done this. When a former statesman like Buzek talks, people tend to listen," he said.

"But people should not be too surprised if others take longer to make an impact. Let's not forget, many of them are still new to the European scene."

Article says that MEPs from the new Member States which entered the EU in 2004 were underrepresented in the European Parliament's key governing bodies.