Now you see them, now you don’t

Date: 19/09/1996

By Rory Watson

MORE than a third of the MEPs who successfully defeated attempts this summer to cut the Parliament's monthly Strasbourg sessions from five days to four failed to attend the Friday session when the institution last met.

With absenteeism rife among MEPs as the weekend approaches, critics, led by Socialist and Liberal members, had argued in July that the Parliament should bring its Strasbourg business to a close on Thursday evenings - instead of on Friday at midday as at present.

But the move was opposed by French MEPs and the majority of other political groups who feared it would undermine Strasbourg's status as the Parliament's official headquarters, and was defeated by 332 votes to 202.

Just two days later, however, total attendance had plummeted from 540 to 284 members.

According to the Parliament's daily attendance register, the absentees included 136 of the Euro MPs who had successfully blocked the four-day week. Among their ranks were 48 Christian Democrats (a third of whom were Spanish), 26 Socialists, and 16 each from the Union for Europe Group and the non-attached.

A closer scrutiny of MEPs' attendance also reveals that although 284 signed the register, their numbers had dwindled still further to 204 by the time the final vote of the week was taken at 11.30am.

The problems caused by absenteeism have already been drawn to the attention of Parliament President Klaus Hänsch by various Green MEPs.

The issue was raised again this week when Swedish Green members met Hänsch to explain their proposals for a wide range of measures to improve the institution's efficiency. Their meeting yesterday (18 September) was the first since the new Swedish MEPs tabled a list of complaints and presented a 23-point plan to overhaul parliamentary procedures in June.

They insisted it was “simply not acceptable from a democratic point of view” that most decisions were taken by less than 400 of the 626 members. They also complained that plenary debates were too frequently chaotic or dull and that an inordinate amount of time was spent on 'non-decisions'.

Hänsch is known to be concerned about low attendance levels, but he acknowledges that MEPs have other responsibilities which may conflict with attending the Friday debates. Despite that, he believes strongly that Fridays should remain normal working days during plenary sessions.

“If you retreat from this, then you start chipping away at the week and you will have speaking problems on other days,” said one senior official.

Hänsch, who has made streamlining the Parliament's day-to-day business one of the central themes of his presidency, has given the Swedish MEPs a sympathetic hearing.

“I would certainly share your basic premise that many of our internal procedures and working methods hold out scope for further improvement,” he wrote in reply to their criticisms.

Yet in the Parliament's defence, he also pointed to the changes already introduced: more logical times for plenary votes, reformed information services, tighter rules on MEPs' expenses, cuts in travel expenditure and improved computer facilities - and set these against the unique challenges facing an institution working in 11 languages in three different workplaces.

Swedish Green MEP Per Gahrton confirmed this week that he and his colleagues had been heartened by Hänsch's reply and claimed that they were beginning to find some support among other members for their initiative.

“We are trying to emphasise the practical things we can do, and to sort out what is within the Parliament's power to implement and what might have to go to the Intergovernmental Conference,” he said.