Strasbourg, 17/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament finally adopted - by 349 yes, 80 no and 17 abstentions - the report by the CSU member, Ursula Schleicher, on the draft regulation concerning the status and the financing of European political parties, after the procedural battle launched by several small groups hostile to the financing of political parties at the European level (see below). The report seemed set aside from the agenda of this session, when, Thursday morning, the President Nicole Fontaine told the plenary that Article 111 allowed for its reintroduction.
This, the Parliament (which was simply consulted, in one reading) specified the conditions proposed by the Commission for the registering of the status of European political party, by notably introducing the notion (challenged by the "small") of party or European union of parties "called upon to last", and adding (other amendment from the constitutional committee) that the European political parties have a legal dimension. The Parliament finally accepted the rule proposed by the Commission according to which the eligible parties for the status of European party must have members in at least five States (the Constitutional Committee proposed "from at least one third of the States"): however, following the adoption of an amendment from the Socialists, the Liberals and the Greens, it calls for the adapting of these provisions in order to take into account the increase in Member States after the next enlargement. Thus, during the preparation and the adopting of the future regulation on the basis of the Treaty of Nice, these provisions should be adapted in order to foresee that each European party will have to: - have members (of the party or its national party) in the European Parliament or in the national or regional parliaments, for at least a quarter of the Member States; - or have obtained, in at least a quarter of the Member States, at least 5% of the votes during the last European elections.
An amendment from the Socialists approved by the plenary specifies that private or public companies are not authorised to make donations or the adhere to a European political party (this text was adopted by a relatively close majority: 240 for, 206 against and 12 abstentions). Furthermore, anonymous donations cannot be accepted in any situation (this is one of the rapporteur's demands): another amendment from the Socialist group indicates that funds unduly received must be returned and that appropriate financial penalties will be set. An amendment from the Liberal group adds that the financial regulation and the budgetary procedures of the parties will be in accordance with guidelines that will be defined after consulation with the Court of Auditors. Finally, the Parliament calls for this regulation to apply until the entry into force of a future regulation on the basis of the Treaty of Nice, while the Commission, in its proposal, indicated that it expired at the end of the second budgetary year after its entry into force.
When speaking at the end of the debate, the Commissioner for the Budget, Michaele Schreyer, recalled that the Commission analysed in an in-depth manner the legal basis of this regulation, and that it proposed a solution in two stages: Article 191, which enters into force after the ratification of the Treaty of Nice, and a provisional solution that allows to resolve the issue of the status until the end of the second budgetary year following the entry into force of the regulation. The Commissioner, who can accept most of the amendments from the Constitutional Committee, cannot accept the amendment which calls for the provisional status to apply until the entry into force of the future regulation on the basis of the Treaty of Nice: the solution proposed by the Commission must precisely allow to draw a lesson from the experiences learned during the two years of application, she said. We are not saying, she asserted, that the parties must be judged on the basis of their European engagement, but they must all be democratic parties. As for the criteria of representation, the formula chosen by the Commission (which will obviously have to be adapted after enlargement) seems balanced.
For the rapporteur, the need for a status for European parties is obvious: the same applies with the rules on their financing, since the parties need partners and offices, thus money, she said. Mrs Schleicher is in agreement with the conditions set by the regulation put forward by the Commission notably with regards to the registering of the status, the need to have members in at least five countries of the Union, the control of financing. The changes she is proposing (see summary in EUROPE of 7/8 May, page 10) do not affect these principals.
We are not against European parties, if they are the expression of society, stated Mr Dupuis, member of the Bonino List, when already announcing an appeal to the Court of Justice over the issue of the legal basis. The legal basis is also challenged by Riberio e Castro who, for the UEN group, also denounces a discrimination with regards to small parties, as does Mr Bonde (EDD), for whom the system allows certain parties to receive more that others because they are organised at the European level. A voice also rose up among the ranks of the EPP-ED group: that of the British Conservative Earl of Stockton, who felt that this report is "premature" and discriminatory, my grandfather Harold Macmillan, always believed that, to be truly independent, parliamentarians should not be paid, he added.
All the other MEPs support the draft regulation, and the decision to discuss it and vote without delay: Mr Pottering, President of the EPP-ED group, for whom the existence of the status of European party is also a means of bringing members closer to the candidate countries and those of the Union. The President of the Socialist group, Mr Baron, said he was pleased to hear talk not of the institutions, but of protagonists for the European building process, and Mr Maaten, for the Liberals, insisted in particular on the need to know with precision the sources of the financing of parties. In the same group, the British Andrew Duff defended the compromise amendment that would allow the reduction of the ceiling for eligibility from 1/3 to ¼ after the ratification of the Treaty of Nice, in the interest of pluralism and justice. For the Greens/ALE, Mrs Maes called for a detailed definition of the methods of financing authorised. Our group, began the French Green, Gerard Onesta, will not vote on the whole text if it allows private companies to "buy" parties at the European level. While stating his agreement over the regulation (but in our group the positions diverge, she added), the German PDS member Mrs Kaufmann, who spoke for the European United Left/Nordic Green Left, insisted over the fact that the roots of the parties are mainly regional and national, and that the parties do not have a monopoly over democracy, which is carried out through other forms of participation in public life
The contents of the Schleicher report
Already sent to the committee following the request from Olivier Dupuis, Belgian Radical elected in Italy, because the amendments were not available in all the languages, this report, which does not please the small groups was postponed once more. This time the initiative came from the Portuguese Ribeiro y Castro, from the Union for a Europe Nations group (supported by Mr Dupuis), the reason given was an unsatisfactory legal basis. Despite opposition from representatives of the EPP and the Socialist group, and assurance from the British Liberal Andrew Duff that the legal basis has been very carefully examined, the vote, which took place on the scattered benches (committee meetings being underway) gave satisfaction to those who want its return. The President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee, Giorgio Napolitano, took stock of the facts, but decided to immediately call a special meeting of his committee.