Strasbourg, 17/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament has a new president, the German Social-Democrat Martin Schulz, who has been MEP since 1994 and a stalwart leader of the S&D Group since 2004. His election for a two and a half year term of office was acquired following an agreement that assured him of the support of the largest parliamentary group, the EPP. A touch of democratic spice was added, however, by the highly effective candidatures of British Vice President Diana Wallis (ALDE Group) and Nirj Deva (ECR Group), also of the UK. Martin Schulz won a comfortable but not overwhelming majority with 387 of the 670 votes, thanks also to the support of a large part of the Greens and of a number of Liberals. Nirj Deva won 142 votes and Diana Wallis 141. Taking the floor at the end of the session, the new president praised the contribution that they had made to a “free and democratic” debate, and expressed the hope that they would remain in contact and that, possibly, some of their ideas could be used in his own work.
Addressing his colleagues and the seven former EP presidents, Schulz said: “I will be the president of all members of the European Parliament and defend your rights”. Firstly, he paid tribute to President Buzek, whose election (555 votes out of 644) had come to “symbolise the triumph of democracy”. Schulz takes up his office with “humility” at a time when, “for the first time since it was founded, the failure of the European Union is a realistic possibility”. The increasing number of meetings behind closed doors, he said, is reminiscent of the era of the Congress of Vienna, when Europe's leaders were ruthless in their defence of national interests. But, he went on to say, it is by defence of the Community method (which he does not see as a “technocratic concept but the principle at the heart of everything the European Union stands for”) that crises can be overcome. What, Schulz asks, does this mean in practice? It means resolving disputes by means of dialogue and consensus. He goes on to say that, over the last two years, not only have problems changed but the way in which problems are addressed has changed as well. “The plethora of summits, the growing fixation with meetings of the heads of state and government, is severely diminishing the part played by the only directly-elected Community institution”, with the result that the public are responding to this lack of parliamentary legitimacy by viewing political decisions taken by their leaders as “nothing more than a series of diktats from Brussels”.
The new president considers that the intergovernmental agreement on a new budgetary union will be the next test facing the Parliament, which must fight if it is to defend its ideas. The Union, however, is also a community of values, a place of democracy, which must ensure such values are upheld in member states (an allusion made here to the Hungarian problem, on which Schulz returned during his press conference). It is essential, he said, that in this phase after the Lisbon Treaty (“we, the representatives of the people have been too slow to exploit the scope it offers us”) negotiation must be on an “equal footing” with the Council, “even if the result is a political dispute”. Schulz recommends in particular a “rethink on the issue of first-reading agreements”.
“For all this to work”, Martin Schulz says, “we must also keep our own house in order”, and he will provide all the support necessary for the EP task as legislator to be carried out to the full.
In the world as a whole - at this point, Schulz spoke of the Arab countries and of Eastern Europe - there have always been people ready to fight for democracy and parliamentarianism. With this in mind, Schulz concluded, saying: “I will not be an amenable president. I will be a president who (…) will do everything in his power to win back lost public trust in the European integration process and restore public enthusiasm for Europe!”
Although they do not share all the new president's ideas, almost all representatives of the political groups gave him their loyal support. Joseph Daul, who leads the EPP, said he did not share most of Schulz's political convictions but gave Schulz his full support at this difficult time if he defends the Community method, shared sovereignty and real economic and political convergence. “You are now leading an institution of which there is no equivalent in the world, a multi-national parliament which passes laws”, added Daul, addressing Schulz, saying “and we shall rally behind you every time you support common European policies and each time you fight for funding to match the ambitions of these common policies”, and each time the president sends a message of freedom and tolerance to the outside (he cited the treatment of Julia Tymoshenko in Ukraine and the case of Syria) and when the internal functioning of the European Parliament is improved.
Accession by the S&D Group was already implicit but Spanish Socialist Maria Badia i Cutchet confirmed it, saying that, given the intergovernmental shift, one must change direction and Martin Schulz has the qualities needed to face that challenge.
Some, went on ALDE Group President Guy Verhofstadt, would like a “neutral president”, but he would definitely not! Given the attacks made against the Community method, given the rise of what is intergovernmental, it is necessary to have a president who is able to unfailingly represent European interest and fight for European integration or even, he said, a president who fights for that word that one no longer dares pronounce - European federalism. The former Belgian prime ministers told Schulz that he would be meeting the heads of government and that he should seize that opportunity to tell them the truth.
The Greens/EFA Group will not always be an easy partner, said Rebecca Harms, the co-president of the Greens/EFA Group, but her group does accept the new president's well-known “asperities”, if he is willing to work for the good of the Union and also for the defence of citizens' rights, especially in cases like that of the new Hungarian law on the media. Some will not facilitate the president's work, asserted Kartika Liotard of the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, but there is something that brings them all together - they are all there to defend European interests.
Speaking on behalf of the eurosceptics of the ECR Group, Martin Callanan from the UK kept a certain distance but also showed he was playing fair. He admitted that the election was democratic, and that the post of president is to be respected by all, despite political disputes. Above all, he trusts that the new president will treat all elected representatives of every political tendency fairly. Nigel Farage (EFD, UK), a hardened eurosceptic, did not beat about the bush, saying that the speech by the elected president pointed to two years of “political fanaticism” from the top perch. He went on to say that his group were not anti-European but that they believe in the sovereignty of states and in a Europe of trade and cooperation. The way Barry Madlener (NA, Netherlands) sees the new president is slightly more generous. Although speaking of the failure of the Social Democrat Europe, he has the good grace to wish Martin Schulz success.
José Manuel Barroso, Commission President, hailed the outgoing president and the good cooperation between the two institutions, which augurs well for the future. He insisted on the need to implement the decisions that have already been taken. Europe cannot be built purely on discipline and sanctions, but on convergence, solidarity and hope, he pointed out. Hence the importance of growth but also of a fairer distribution of sacrifices on the part of citizens.
Visibly moved, Martin Schulz concluded by saying: “I shall always be a Social Democrat but, if I am President of the European Parliament, it is not because I am a Social Democrat”. He announced a slight improvement during the sessions - instead of banging a hammer to alert his colleagues, he will use a bell …. (LG/transl.jl)