Strasbourg, 01/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - A press statement from the Socialist group at the European Parliament indicates that presidents of political groups at the Parliament agreed to a proposal on Thursday from president Cox calling on the Secretary General of the EP to present a report explaining the recent amendment of the ruling from the EPP-ED group to see if it is compatible with the need for a "political affinity" demanded in the EP Regulation forming a Parliamentary political group (EUROPE yesterday p 6 on the subject of the amendment of the status of allied members of the EPP-ED group, according to which following next June's elections, they will e able to develop distinct views on questions of "an institutional and constitutional nature"). President of the Socialist group Enrique Baron posed the question on Thursday at the Conference of Presidents, considering that after this agreement with Conservative Euro-sceptics, the EPP-Ed group was just a "technical group, whereas Article 29 of the European Parliament Regulation stipulates that "political affinity" is needed for forming an EP group.
Hans-Gert Pötterting, president of the EPP-ED group answered this question in advance at the beginning of the week in Strasbourg, explaining that distinct view were not included in "institutional and constitutional issues" on which the European Parliament does not have any real power (given that it does not have a facility for ratifying the treaty or for amendments).