Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - MEPs decided on Wednesday 28 October to postpone voting on the Leinen-Hübner report on the reform of EU electoral law, harmonising the conduct of European elections across the member states.
The postponement was called for officially by the Christian Democratic group of one of the joint authors of the report, Polish MEP Danuta Hübner. At issue was the provision for a compulsory minimum threshold in terms of votes to be won in order to be elected to the European Parliament (see EUROPE 11414). According to the report, this threshold would be set at between 3% and 5% of the vote, to be applied in single constituency countries and countries with several constituencies which elect at least 26 MEPs using the list system.
Responding in a press release to the postponement of the vote, Arne Gericke (ECR, Germany) was delighted that Leinen had “for the time being failed with his undemocratic 'Lex Germania' to reintroduce a national German threshold through the European backdoor”. Gericke, a member of the German Family Party, is among the group of seven German MEPs elected in 2014 after the country's constitutional court revoked the provision that brought in a minimum threshold in Germany.
In the S&D Group, the feeling is that the draft report would have won a comfortable majority. However, with Parliament having the lead on this matter, the aim is to bring together as many MEPs as possible to bring pressure to bear on the Council of the EU which would have unanimously to endorse the proposals.
Since the report was not returned to the competent Parliamentary committee, the plenary session vote has been re-scheduled for Wednesday 11 November, during the mini plenary session in Brussels. Leinen hopes that the report will be adopted before the end of the current Presidency, Luxembourg being keen to open talks among member states before the end of 2015. Discussions among the Parliamentary groups on how to proceed with the report were held on Wednesday.
During the plenary session debate on Tuesday evening, the Conservative right described the report as being excessively pro-Europe, while the Liberals and the Greens felt it lacked ambition.
The report seeks to enshrine in European law the “Spitzenkandidaten” principle, under which, prior to the elections, each of the main political groupings name their lead candidate who, in the event of the group's victory, assumes the presidency of the European Commission. This was what happened in the appointment of Luxembourg Christian Democrat Jean-Claude Juncker, following the victory of the Christian Democratic grouping (EPP) in the European elections in 2014. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)