Rowdy sessions jolt the Parliament’s grey image

Date: 27.01.05

Rowdy MEPs could find themselves being hit where it hurts most - in the pocket.

Parliament chiefs are considering new rules on how to deal with MEPs' unruly behaviour, after a protest against the EU constitution in Strasbourg degenerated into a fight, which left three wounded.

The assembly's leaders will shortly announce that they are to carry out a survey of what parliaments in the EU's 25 states do to ensure that discipline among their members is observed and enforced. It may incorporate those sanctions considered to be most effective into its own rulebook.

Liberal group (ALDE) leader Graham Watson says that MEPs should be "fined" for unruly behaviour in Parliament. He suggests that offenders should be suspended for 14 days during which time they would not receive their €262 daily allowance.

"MEPs should show the way on discipline and a financial penalty could be an effective way of dealing with those who repeatedly misbehave," he said. "It might make them think twice in future."

The Parliament's vote on the EU constitution was marred by unseemly violence at the Strasbourg plenary earlier this month (12 January).

Two MEPs' female assistants claim they were assaulted by security staff for displaying anti-constitution banners while an unnamed British MEP is alleged to have kicked and injured a security guard.

Scores of MEPs held up anti-constitution banners in the hemicycle and refused to remove them when asked to do so.

The assembly's Secretary-General, Julian Priestley, has been asked to produce a report clarifying the rules of procedure for keeping order among its 732 MEPs.

The recent scuffles involving the UK Independence Party assistants and Parliament's security staff reflect growing concern about the unruly behaviour of some staff.

It is feared that publicity about such incidents could affect the Parliament's already poor public image.

Watson says he was not surprised by President George W. Bush's decision to decline an invitation to address the Parliament during his forthcoming visit to Europe beginning on 22 February.

"I can understand him not wanting to face the inevitable protests by MEPs," he says.

Protests against visiting dignitaries are not new - President Jacques Chirac of France was heckled by MEPs on a visit to the Parliament a few years ago. But it is the number and scale of such demonstrations that is causing alarm.

Recent incidents include:

• Polish MEPs have repeatedly displayed national flags on their desks in the hemicycle during plenary sessions. Ushers were called when they refused requests to remove them;
• supporters of Turkish EU accession waved banners and posters during a plenary debate before Christmas, and;
• scores of MEPs wore orange scarves in support of Viktor Yuschenko in the run-up to the recent Ukrainian elections.

Since becoming Parliament's president last year, Josep Borrell has repeatedly found himself having to appeal to MEPs to remove posters, banners and flags during plenary debates. More often than not, his requests are ignored.

But such problems pale when compared with the violent clashes seen over the years in assemblies in countries like Spain, Italy or the UK.

And the Parliament is yet to witness anything like the extraordinary demonstration last September when hunt protesters stormed into the UK House of Commons, causing a hunting ban debate to be halted.

The eight protesters tried to confront MPs before being bundled out of the chamber.

Brandishing banners may also seem relatively tame compared with the decision last week by a group of Russian deputies to go on hunger strike and remain inside the parliament to protest against a new law on state benefits.

But, a Parliament spokesman admits that recent events, particularly during the Strasbourg sessions, are causing "real concern".

"Some of the protests and demonstrations we have seen recently are colourful and may make good TV. You can't deny a circus is better TV entertainment than a boring debate in a Parliament," he said.

While denying that the security forces were trying to stifle dissent, he added: "But surely a balance has to be struck between what are often nationalistic protests and upholding the dignity of Parliament?"

According to the Parliament's existing rules of procedure, any member who creates a disturbance can be given up to three warnings to stop.

If a member refuses, the president can expel him or her from the chamber for the remainder of that session.

Rule 148 says that the president can suspend the sitting if he cannot make himself heard.

But Watson points out that this does not mean an MEP will then be suspended - as is the case if a member of parliament in the UK is deemed guilty of misbehaviour in the Commons.

Under the UK system, the suspension normally lasts for five working days and, while serving a suspension, an MP is not allowed into any part of the Palace of Westminster.

In Germany, the president of the federal parliament can suspend an MP for up to 30 days if he or she behaves in an unruly way and has been called to order. During the period covered by the suspension, the MP is not entitled to sign the list of attendance which means that he does not receive any attendance allowance.

In France, suspension is also the main sanction of its national assembly. A deputy can be suspended for up to one month for unruly behaviour.

"As far as I am aware, ours is the only parliament which does not have a financial penalty for this kind of thing," says Watson. "I believe that has got to change."

He says the idea was "well received" when he put it to a meeting of group leaders last week.

But a spokesman for the European People's Party (EPP-ED) group said they would prefer to see greater enforcement of the existing rules for dealing with rowdy behaviour.

"The rules are in place and it is up to Parliament's president to enforce them which is not happening at present," he said.

Article reports on a series of incidents in the European Parliament in which MEPs ignored the Parliament's president appeals to remove posters, banners and flags they were displaying during plenary debates and a protest against the EU constitution in the plenum which degenerated into a fight, which left three wounded. The author says that European Parliament leaders were considering new rules on how to deal with MEPs' unruly behaviour.

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