Despite promises of case-by-case treatment and the profile of the candidates, the cordon sanitaire that had been on the drawing board for several days has been put in place against the far-right group Identity and Democracy (ID) during the constituent sessions of the parliamentary committees on Wednesday 10 July.
Thus, the ‘Agriculture’ (AGRI) and ‘Legal Affairs’ (JURI) committees rejected the nominees from the ID groups, Maxette Pirbakase and Gilles Lebreton respectively, and appointed the German Norbert Lins to AGRI and Lucy Nethsingha (Renew Europe, Great Britain) to JURI.
The cordon sanitaire was not limited to the presidential positions, but was also extended to the vice-presidential seats, in particular in the Committee on International Trade (INTA), where Maximilian Krah was ousted, and in the Committee on Civil Liberties and Justice (LIBE), Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), Fisheries (PECH), Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and Budgetary Control (CONT) (see other news).
The same fate is expected to be reserved for the Italian Francesca Donato, who owes her stay only to a delay in voting due to a lack of respect for internal rules on gender parity.
Discriminatory treatment?
Speaking to EUROPE, Sergio Garuzzo, one of the Deputy Secretaries General of the ID Group, denounced this “totally discriminatory behaviour” and “phony democracy”.
While national parliaments all have guarantees for the representation of political minorities, the European Parliament is the only one that does not provide any guarantees, he denounced. The d'Hondt rule is indeed nowhere to be found and is only a ‘gentleman's agreement’. “This totally arbitrary behaviour is therefore perfectly legal”, he deplored.
Disappointing, of course, but not really a surprise, since the tone had already been set at last week's election of European Parliament’s Vice-Presidents (see EUROPE 12288/1). However, in this case, the cordon sanitaire applies not only to the ID group, but also to other political groups and even to the Polish and Hungarian governments, Garuzzo noted.
Asked about a possible change in the group's strategy, which, when it was created (see EUROPE 12274/8), had suggested that this time it really wanted to get involved in Parliament’s work, Mr Garuzzo said that there was still an evaluation to be done. “Today, we have concrete evidence that the cordon sanitaire has finally been applied; the group takes note of this”. However, he added: “we will remain politically polite and respect the rules”.
And as for potential alliances with other groups or MEPs? Mr Garuzzo did not wish to go too far. “This will be done on a case-by-case basis, depending on the parliamentary committees”, he replied.
The cordon sanitaire has been extended beyond the candidates of the only extreme right-wing group and is being applied to certain candidates from the ECR, or even the EPP (see other news), because of their membership in the ruling parties in Poland and Hungary, which have been somewhat ostracised from the European Union because of their authoritarian abuses. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens with Marion Fontana)