One-in-five new MEPs ready to quit

By Martin Banks

Date: 06/05/04

THE European Parliament is set to be hit by a mini-exodus of MEPs from new member states.

Just days after they assumed full status as deputies, European Voice can reveal that approximately 20% of new members are ready to quit.

The two main reasons cited for their decision not to stand in the European elections on 10-13 June are the huge pay gap between MEPs from "old" and new member states as well as the monthly commute between the Parliament's two seats - in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Those who have withdrawn their candidacy include some, such as Poland's Sylwia Pusz, who many predicted would be "rising stars" in the next assembly.

One Hungarian member says he had decided not to stand for election following the Parliament's failure to adopt a new statute for MEPs.

"I am going to be paid a lot less than some other MEPs and it just does not seem fair," he said. "I was very disappointed by the failure to harmonize salaries. It only seems fair that we are paid the same. After all, we all do the same job.

"I now understand why they call the monthly commute between Brussels and Strasbourg the "travelling circus".

"I have enjoyed the experience but it does get you down after a while."

The European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED), the assembly's biggest political group, has 64 MEPs from new member states. Of these, 15 are not standing in the June poll. Three out of 15 new Liberal MEPs will not seek re-election. And more than half of the Socialists from nine new states (all bar Poland) are not contesting the June poll.

An EPP-ED spokesman confirmed that the pay differences among MEPs and the travelling involved in carrying out the job were the biggest problems cited by those who have withdrawn their candidature.

"It is easy to understand how they feel because it seems crazy that an MEP from, say, Italy will receive about €11,000 per month while deputies from new member states will receive less than €1,000 ."

Poland's Pusz says she has reluctantly decided not to stand in the June poll.

One of the reasons, she says, is the lack of time she is able to spend with her family and the constant travelling between the Parliament's two seats.

"I regret it but I think it is for the best,"said the 31-year-old from Poznan, who recently gave birth to a baby daughter, Sophie.

One Socialist MEP, who did not wish to be named, said: "She will be missed because she was seen as one of the rising stars of the next Parliament. It is a shame she is not standing because she is young and bright - just what the Parliament needs."

MEPs currently have at least three ports of call: their homes, in which they do their constituency work, Brussels, where their main offices are, and Strasbourg, where they spend four days each month.

But many of the MEPs from new member states who started their first week as full members on Monday (3 May) in Strasbourg appear resigned to the current split-site arrangement.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, a former foreign affairs minister in Estonia, will be standing in the elections.

"It is not exactly easy to get from Estonia to Strasbourg but you either do it or you don't.

"I do accept, however, that it would be more logical to have a single seat.".

Approximately 20% of MEPs from 'new' Member States will not stand in the European Parliament elections on 10-13 June 2004. The two main reasons given are the pay differential between MEPs from 'old' Member States and 'new' Member States, as well as the monthly commute between the Parliament's two seats in Brussels and Strasbourg.