Presidential battle brings democracy to Parliament

Date: 13/09/01

THINGS are starting to get political in that most apolitical of places - the European Parliament. Last week's decision by the Socialist group to pit David Martin against centre-right favourite Pat Cox in the battle to become the assembly's next president is good news for democracy and good news for the EU's only democratically-elected body.

Political parties should compete against each other for plum posts. Unfortunately, for most of Parliament's short history they have failed to do so. From the mid-1980s until the last Euro-elections in 1999, the chamber's two largest parties, the Socialists and Christian Democrats, swapped the post between them every two-and-a-half years.

This gentlemen's agreement not only shut out talented candidates from smaller groupings, but helped to foster an image of Parliament as a place in which Identikit parties stitched up votes behind closed doors. Things began to change in 1999 when the centre-right decided to field their own candidate against former Portuguese President Mário Soares.

But given the scale of the centre-right's victory in the elections and the unsuitability of the left's contender, the result was a foregone conclusion.

It certainly won't be this time. In fact, the stage is set for the first serious race for Parliament's top job since 1986, when Conservative MEP Lord Plumb beat current Socialist boss Enrique Baron by a handful of votes.

Although Irish Liberal leader Cox has the support of the assembly's largest political grouping, the 233 strong Christian Democrats, there are jitters within the centre-right camp.

On the other hand, Martin received almost unanimous support from the 180-strong Socialists and if he can persuade the Greens and far-left MEPs to vote for him he stands a good chance of becoming Parliament's next president. Whoever wins the secret ballot in January is likely to make a better Parliament speaker than the hapless current chief, Nicole Fontaine, or her equally mediocre predecessors.

Cox made a name for himself during the dying days of the Jacques Santer Commission, when his barnstorming speeches in the plenary helped persuade MEPs to sack the executive.

Since then, he has pushed for Parliament to put its house in order and to become more involved in big-issue politics such as enlargement. Although Martin is currently vice-president responsible for communications, it is Cox who has more chance of boosting Parliament's poor media profile.

A former lecturer and television presenter, Cox can conjure up a dazzling soundbite at the drop of a hat and is better known among the Brussels press corps. Martin, on the other hand, almost seems to court obscurity.

Readers who attended the launch of the 'future of Europe' debate earlier this year might have noticed a bespectacled middle-aged man sitting to the left of Commission President Romano Prodi, Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt and Swedish premier Göran Persson. That was David Martin.

After the European Socialists rubber-stamped Martin's nomination last week, the BBC headlined their report: "Unknown MEP aims for top job".

The 47-year old Scot might not be a familiar face in his homeland, but he certainly is in the corridors of power in Brussels and Strasbourg. Parliament's deputy-head for over a decade, Martin has eyeballed many a minister during late-night conciliation talks and has a working knowledge of the assembly's arcane procedures that is second to none.

Having been on the receiving end of some of his pinpoint passes, your columnist can also confirm that he is a fine footballer capable of running rings around most young staffers.

Whichever player is picked to lead Parliament's team for the next two and a half years faces a gargantuan task. As a matter of urgency, the new president will need to sort out the downright corrupt way in which MEPs currently claim expenses and employ their assistants.

Only then will members be able to look the electorate in the eye when they ask for voters' support in the 2004 poll.

There is no doubt that both Cox and Martin have the political pedigree to chair Parliament. The next three months will decide who is better able to project what it does on to a wider screen. BY Gareth Harding

• European Voice will be sponsoring a debate between the two candidates in early November.

Author says the decision by the Socialist group to pit David Martin against centre-right favourite Pat Cox in the battle to become the European Parliament's next president is good news for democracy and good news for the EU's only democratically-elected body.