‘Young Turks’ leave Parliament but rising stars look set to shine

By Martin Banks

Date: 04/03/04

SEVERAL reform-minded MEPs are leaving the European Parliament after June's election, but a wave of other "rising stars" are lining up to enter the assembly.

This summer will see a number of high-profile young members leave Brussels.

They include Dutch Socialist Michiel van Hulten, UK Liberal Nick Clegg and Danish Helle Thorning-Schmidt, members of the Campaign for Parliamentary Reform, which has spearheaded calls for reform of the MEPs' expenses regime. Van Hulten and Clegg, authors of Reforming the European Parliament, were dubbed the Parliament's "young Turks" by Time magazine.

Another young MEP, Lousewies van der Laan, left the Parliament last year to become an MP in the Netherlands.

Their departure led one member to claim that the assembly was in danger of losing some of its brightest talent at a critical time in its history, as the EU expands.

"The fact that you've got such talented members leaving after just one term does not reflect well on the Parliament," said the British deputy.

"It reinforces the widely held belief that Parliament is a good place to start and end your political career but isn't really somewhere you want to hang around for too long in between."

But a new set of young hopefuls will be seeking to replace them.

Among those standing for election is 35-year-old Alexander Stubb, a counsellor on institutional affairs at the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU.

Although he is a relatively new face on the political scene - he joined the Finnish Conservative Party just six weeks ago - his European credentials are already well established.

Stubb worked for both the Finnish prime minister and foreign minister's office and published eight books on EU affairs.

He has also been an advisor to European Commission President Romano Prodi and was a member of the Finnish negotiating team for the IGC 2000, which led to the Nice Treaty.

A professor at the College of Europe, in Bruges, Stubb firmly believes that, despite the loss of young bright MEPs and voters' apathy, the Parliament has an "extremely important" role to play.

"There is no doubt in my mind that an active and energetic MEP can wield far more influence and power than an inactive government minister in a member state," he said.

"I am a committed European and still believe politics can make a difference. I also believe there's a gap in the market for people who can deliver a clearly articulated message about the EU.

"What I do not believe is that the Parliament is a place for retirement."

Another potential young Turk in the next Parliament is Cem Özdemir, a German Green.

Özdemir, who in 1994 became the first person of Turkish descent to be elected to Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, hopes to use the election campaign "to make European policy more attractive to ordinary people".

"If elected, I want to reach out to people who don't feel involved in this thing called the European project, such as the young, immigrants and people who don't vote. Coming from a Turkish background will be interesting too, as the EU may be about to embark on negotiations for Turkish membership."

Özdemir, aged 38, served a total of eight years as a Bundestag member. He pledges, if he is elected, "to collaborate with young, reform-minded politicians on issues such as environmental protection and changes to MEPs' pay and expenses".

Other rising stars could be Mary Lou McDonald, 34, a member of the Sinn Féin national executive, and the party's candidate for Dublin, and Edith Mastenbroek, a 27-year-old Dutch Socialist who has polarized public opinion in the Netherlands with her controversial views on women's rights.

Feature looks at which high profile MEPs are leaving the European Parliament at the 2004 elections, and who is likely to replace them.