Brussels, 11/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - Next Tuesday in Strasbourg, the candidates to the Presidency of the European Parliament for the second half of the presidency's term of office, until June 2004, will, for the first time, have the possibility of giving their priorities and setting out their programme before the vote (see also p.9). Thus, Pat Cox, David Martin, Francis Wurtz, Gérard Onesta and Jens-Peter Bonde will be able to speak for five minutes each during the plenary session to be chaired by the most senior member, Portuguese Socialist Mario Soares. The former President of the Portuguese Republic will also chair a brief sitting on Monday evening during which the candidatures will be announced. He intends to say a few words on this occasion.
Parliament spokesman David Harley told the press on Friday that the ballot will be held in the traditional way (i.e. by placing a ballot slip in the urn), as the leaders of some groups had feared that an electronic vote would not sufficiently guarantee voting secrecy.
During the same press conference, the Secretary General of the Liberal Group said he was confident that the Group's leader, Pat Cox, would win the election. He pointed out that Mr Cox will be putting forward ideas on how to improve the way the European Parliament works, now that it has reached "maturity". Pat Cox "is our candidate", the spokesman of the EPP-ED said on the same occasion, while the candidate of the Socialist Group mainly stressed that the Socialist Group candidate, David Martin, is the Vice-President of the Parliament with the "most experience". The spokesman of the Greens/EFA Group confirmed that, during the second round, the group (that will firstly vote for its own candidate, Gérard Onesta) will give its majority vote in favour of the candidate of a small group (hence, Pat Cox: see yesterday's EUROPE, p.5). He stressed that this is not a "political alliance but a tactical alliance", aimed at breaking the "hegemony" of the large groups to secure plurality in Parliament. "Dany is red as he was a few weeks ago, but also Green" (it is a known fact that Cohn-Bendit was known as "Dany the Red" in May 68 in Paris), the spokesman replied to a journalist in answer to questions on the remarks made by an MEP whereby, further to this understanding with the Liberals, Cohn-Bendit should be called "Dany the Blue". There has been no agreement with the Liberals regarding, for example, a post for a Green member in the cabinet of Pat Cox, spokesman Helmut Weixler also said. He noted, however, that there had been a general discussion between Greens and Liberals on "the EP's personnel policy". Jens-Peter Bonde "is not the candidate of a group, but is running on the basis of a platform" that one can summarise with the words "fair chair", the spokesman for the Group of a Europe of Democracies and Diversities said in his turn.
The seven members of the Lista Bonino explain in a declaration by Maurizio Turco that they "will not vote for their natural candidate Pat Cox" because Francesco Rutelli, member of the Liberal Group and leader of the centre-left opposition in Italy, has not publicly, but "privately and half in secret" announced his support to this candidature. This fact "would have been extraordinarily important" to the point of making Italian Radicals "review their relations with Ulivo and Margherita" (the main components of the Italian opposition), said Mr Turco. (See EUROPE of 7/8 January, p.6).