Rocard fails in attempt to retain high-profile employment chair

Date: 24/01/02

VETERAN MEP and former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard has been ousted as chairman of the Parliament's influential employment and social affairs committee.

Rocard has been replaced by 54-year-old Dutch Green deputy, Theo Bouwman, who will hold the post for two-and-a-half years.

Bouwman, an MEP since 1999, is a former city councillor in Eindhoven.

The French deputy tried unsuccessfully to get another key committee, constitutional affairs, which went instead to Italian Socialist Georgio Napolitano.

Rocard ended up with the chairmanship of the much less powerful culture committee.

The move, which will be seen as something of a slight for Rocard, was branded 'unfair' by his fellow Socialist member Pervenche Berès.

'It is widely accepted by all parties that Rocard had done a wonderful job in the time he'd been chairman of the environment committee,' she said, 'and it seems unfair that he is not being allowed to see through the good work he has started.

'To lose such an important committee will also be seen as something of a failure for the Socialist group.'

Some French deputies are also unhappy that chairmanships of the most powerful committees, such as budgetary control and foreign affairs, went to Germany, UK, Italy and Spain while only two relatively low-profile committees - culture and agriculture - will be chaired by French deputies.

Overall, the chairmanships of nine of the 17 committees remain unchanged following the election of Pat Cox as new president of the Parliament.

While the employment post was the most disputed of the committees, another controversial appointment was that of Italian Forza Italia member, Giuseppe Gargani who, as predicted in last week's European Voice, landed the chairmanship of the legal affairs committee.

Gargani's nomination had been criticised because of concern about his party's recent eurosceptic approach.

Committee chairs are distributed to political groups according to their size in the Parliament. In total, the European People's Party got eight of the 17 committee chairs and the Socialists six, with one each going to the Liberals, Greens and United Left.

Veteran MEP and former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard has been ousted as chairman of the European Parliament's influential employment and social affairs committee. He has been replaced by Dutch Green MEP Theo Bouwman.