‘There’s no better time to be an MEP’ – and she doesn’t just mean the salary

Date: 11/09/03

Parlimentarians from the ten countries entering the EU next May have joined the ranks of MEPs. Martin Banks shadowed one of the 162 'observers' in Strasbourg last week, to see how she is getting to grips with life in Euroland

SYLWIA Pusz reckons there couldn't be a better time to be a member of the European Parliament.

Of course, you could be forgiven for thinking she was talking about the salary.

After all, if Sylwia were elected next year she may be taking home a wage (around €8,000 per month if a new common salary is agreed in time) that is twice as much as her prime minister.

But what she actually has in mind is something quite different.

"It's a wonderful challenge, a completely new experience, to be one of the 54 from Poland - to be one of the first, for the first time in our history. I think it is very tempting."

Amid the flurry of photographers, computer experts and Parliament officials tasked with making the observer MEPs at home, Sylwia feels the vibes of history: "This is a crucial moment and I think a historical moment because we are in the European Parliament for the first time."

Sylwia is actually used to breaking records - seven years ago she became the youngest MP to be elected in Poland, at the age of 25.

After years of negotiation, the EU institutions have finally opened their doors to the citizens who for half a century lived under communism. The Parliament is the first institution to embrace them. It is, as President Pat Cox put it, "the first institution to enlarge, before the EU enlarges effectively".

The arrival of 162 national parliamentarians at the European Parliament has provided a foretaste of how enlargement will change the way the EU works.

Armed with a hefty copy of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, clutching a new briefcase courtesy of the EU and remarkably undaunted by the maze of corridors, Sylwia says she is strongly tempted to stand for election for next June's European elections: "In Poland, there is a feeling the European Parliament is an institution which is too far away from people. I think this is the great role of the observers like me and future MEPs: to bring it closer and to explain what its role is.

"The work of MEPs is not well known and the Parliament doesn't produce the kind of laws that we understand. So there is an image that MEPs sit and do things that we don't need in our normal life.

"If we don't use this period to explain this to people back home then there could be a very low turnout at next year's elections."

Sylwia, who is married and is expecting her first child in January, started her first Parliamentary day with a two-hour meeting of the Socialist group. Next on the agenda was a meeting of the regional policy and transport committee.

As an observer, she has the right to attend and debate in committee meetings but not the right to vote, something she admits can at times be frustrating.

As well as travelling to the monthly plenary sessions in Strasbourg, she usually visits the Parliament in Brussels twice a month, spending about three days a week there each time.

Although she admits to not being a great one for socialising, her evenings are spent eating at a restaurant or having a drink with friends.

She has arrived at the European Parliament as secretary of the biggest delegation from Poland. She doesn't yet have her own seat in the hemicycle in either Brussels or Strasbourg but, unlike some fellow observer members, she is lucky that she shares her office with only one other person.

Already into her second term as an MP in Warsaw, Sylwia says that if she wins a place as an MEP, she won't be using Brussels merely as a stepping stone to a bigger role in Polish politics: "It is a big choice. I've been speaking to the MEPs here and it is clear they are often far from their countries and families.

"Many are also afraid they will not be able to get back into domestic politics. I will have to weigh all these things up before I decide whether to stand.

"I don't have any reservations about the travel and my first impressions are very positive."

Before dashing off to attend a meeting of the foreign affairs committee - the second committee she has joined - she reflects on one of the main tasks she expects to face if she stands for election: justifying to the people the generous pay and perks package of an MEP.

Sylwia, who currently earns €2,000 per month as an MP, said: "It would be tough to explain the reason why we were coming here. Our media would attack candidates as going for the money even though that is not true.

"But it will cause many discussions and problems. For now, we need to focus on our bigger role and what we can do for Poland here in Brussels and Strasbourg."

Observing observers - facts and figures

• THEY include a former fighter pilot, brain surgeon, a trade union leader and international lawyer;
• other key figures include Toomas Saavi, former speaker of the Estonian Parliament, and Jelko Kacin, a former Slovenian defence minister;
• their mandate runs from 5 May 2003 to 30 April 2004;
• they have been allocated offices at the Parliament's buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg;
• many are expected to stand in next June's European elections;
• Poland has the biggest number - 54 - while Cyprus and Estonia, with six each, have the smallest, and;
• 69 observers have joined the European People's Party, Parliament's biggest political group, while 57 have linked up with the Socialists and 13 with the Liberals. The rest have joined smaller groups.

Commentary on the work of the 162 European Parliament 'observers' from the ten new Member States.