Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a setback for the Greens/EFA Group at the European Parliament, the conference of presidents of the Parliament's political groups refused the Greens' request for the creation of a special parliamentary committee to shed light on the circumstances that finished in the resignation of the commissioner for health, John Dalli (see EUROPE 10813). Only the GUE/NGL Group backed the Greens/EFA Group's request for the special committee also to assess the rules on the behaviour of lobbyists and the prevention of conflicts of interest, in the light of the Dalli affair.
Rebecca Harms (Germany), the co-chair of the Greens/EFA Group, considered that “the almost unanimous refusal to set up a special committee on reviewing the code of conduct of MEPs and European commissioners, as well as the existing rules on the control of lobbyists' activities, does not correspond to citizens' expectations”. She was particularly critical of the “unexplained role” of the tobacco industry in the legislative process.
Describing this incomprehensible refusal, José Bové (Greens, France) asked: “Do the presidents of the groups that voted against this proposal want the code of silence to continue?”
The EPP, S&D and ALDE Groups seemed to consider that analysing the rules of lobbying is not currently a priority - especially as the joint register of lobbyists' transparency at the Parliament and European Commission is in the process of being reviewed. The EPP Group also want to protect the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, from a hearing in front of such a special committee. (LC/transl.fl)