Brussels, 26/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Council President Brian Cowen noted on Monday that there was no qualified majority to approve the draft statute for MEPs. Four countries - Germany, France, Austria and Sweden - expressed their opposition to the draft of the European Parliament. German Minister Joschka Fischer had not arrived at the time of discussion on this matter but the German delegation expressed its disagreement as to the amount of payment and stressed that a majority of the German delegation did not agree. The French Foreign Minister told the press that the "amount does not depend upon what seems desirable to us", but this position seemed to be essentially dictated by the desire to support the German government. Austria and Sweden are also opposed to the salary level that MEPs have granted to themselves. In order to calm things down, the president of the European Parliament had, nonetheless, given his assurance in a letter to Chancellor Schröder last week, that the amount remained 8600 euros, on which the plenary voted, and not the amount of the indemnity for European judges after its last reassessment in December 2003, i.e. 9053 euros. Henceforth, the only solution that would make it possible to save the statute seems to be to reduce this amount to bring it to a level that is as close as possible to 7000 euros. A solution that a large majority of the EPP and PES groups are certainly not willing to accept. There is therefore the risk of a "history without end" as the Czech minister, Cyril Swoboda, said, being the only observer who took the floor in the Council discussion. Mr Swoboda, like his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio, who was Chair of the European Parliament's legal committee, urged for approval of the statute before enlargement.
Debate with Irish Presidency on Wednesday in plenary
Pat Cox commented that it is very difficult to negotiate an agreement when the Council continues "keeps moving the goalposts". He explained that last June, the "Council made it clear that they had three problems in relation to the proposed Members' Statute - Parliamentary immunity, MEP taxation and the retirement age. The Parliament responded by amending its position on all three issues. With our vote in December, MEPs went the extra mile to deliver a compromise that would make a deal possible. This Parliament has voted to put its House in order, we have delivered on our part of the bargain, we have backed the deal for reform. It will be deeply disappointing if, at this stage, Member States cannot fulfil their part of the bargain. We have asked the Irish Presidency to report back to the European Parliament on Wednesday this week and, on the basis of their assessment, we will decide on the next steps and what can be retrieved".