European Parliament: Composition of committees

In the European elections candidates are heavily dependent on their national parties, especially where they have to be in an electable position on a closed list. Theoretically every member of the European Parliament is elected by the citizens, but in practice the battles decide a few marginal seats (and individual fates) between the political parties.

Once elected, the member of the European Parliament (MEP) depends on his or her political group to get ahead in the game. Despite being loose coalitions ideologically, the political groups handle the levers of power.

The EP committees offer one example.


The political groups in the European Parliament are central to the composition of the committees, where the preparatory political work takes place. The political groups and the non-attached members submit nominations.

The Conference of Presidents, where the EP President and the chairs of the political groups meet, submits proposals to Parliament (plenary), striving to reflect the composition of the Parliament.

The full Parliament can overturn the Conference proposals only on the basis of amendments tabled by at least forty members (which happens to be more than the number of non-attached members).

This means that the individual MEPs depend on the support of their political group if they want to land coveted committee memberships.

The Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament (16th edition, October 2008):


Rule 177 Composition of committees

1. Members of committees and committees of inquiry shall be elected after nominations have been submitted by the political groups and the non-attached Members. The Conference of Presidents shall submit proposals to Parliament. The composition of the committees shall, as far as possible, reflect the composition of Parliament.

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Official explanation: When Members change political groups they shall retain, for the remainder of their two and a half year term of office, the seats they hold in parliamentary committees. However, if a Member's change of political group has the effect of disturbing the fair representation of political views in a committee, new proposals for the composition of that committee shall be made by the Conference of Presidents in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 1, second sentence, whereby the individual rights of the Member concerned shall be guaranteed.
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2. Amendments to the proposals of the Conference of Presidents shall be admissible only if they are tabled by at least forty Members. Parliament shall vote on such amendments by secret ballot.

3. Members shall be deemed to be elected on the basis of the proposals by the Conference of Presidents, as and where amended pursuant to paragraph 2.

4. Where a political group fails to submit nominations for membership of a committee of inquiry pursuant to paragraph 1 within a time limit set by the Conference of Presidents, the Conference of Presidents shall submit to Parliament only the nominations communicated to it within that time limit.

5. The Conference of Presidents may provisionally decide to fill any vacancy on a committee with the agreement of the persons to be appointed and having regard to paragraph 1.

6. Any such changes shall be placed before Parliament for ratification at the next sitting.


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Substitutes


The political groups appoint the substitutes even more directly:



Rule 178 Substitutes

1. The political groups and the non-attached Members may appoint a number of permanent substitutes for each committee equal to the number of full members representing them on the committee. The President shall be informed accordingly.

These permanent substitutes shall be entitled to attend and speak at committee meetings and, if the full member is absent, to take part in the vote.

2. In addition, in the absence of the full member and where no permanent substitutes have been appointed or in their absence, the full member of the committee may arrange to be represented at meetings by another member of the same political group, who shall be entitled to vote. The name of the substitute shall be notified to the chair of the committee prior to the beginning of the voting session.
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The rest of the text is probably meant to be an official explanation in its entirety despite the inconsistent use of italics:

Paragraph 2 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the non-attached Members.

The advance notification provided for in the last sentence of paragraph 2 must be given before the end of the debate or before the opening of the vote on the item or items for which the full member is to be replaced.

The provisions of this Rule encompass two concepts which are clearly defined by this text:

- a political group may not have more permanent substitutes for a committee than it has full members;
- only political groups are entitled to appoint permanent substitutes, on the sole condition that they inform the President.

To conclude:

- the status of permanent substitutes depends exclusively on membership of a given political group;
- where the number of a political group's full members in a committee is altered, the maximum number of permanent substitutes which it can appoint to that committee is altered accordingly;
- Members who change political groups may not keep the status of permanent substitute which they had as members of their original group;
- a committee member may not under any circumstances be a substitute for a colleague who belongs to another political group.


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A few more examples will follow on the role of the political groups.


Ralf Grahn

European Parliament: Allocation of seats in the Chamber

The Conference of Presidents decides on the allocation of seats among the political groups and the non-attached members. In addition seats are needed for the Commission and Council representatives.

The authorising provision is Rule 32 of the European Parliament’s Rules of Procedure (16th edition, October 2008):




Rule 32 Allocation of seats in the Chamber

The Conference of Presidents shall decide how seats in the Chamber are to be allocated among the political groups, the non-attached Members and the institutions of the European Union.


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Search results

I have tried to test the accessibility of information about the internal life of the European Parliament through its own web pages.

I managed to find a European Parliament web page promising a link to the seating arrangements, but it turned out to be an error page.

The customary lack of accessible information about the decisions of internal bodies of the EP continued with regard to the Conference of Presidents in general and concerning the allocation of seats.


Ralf Grahn

European Parliament: Political groups run the show

The first paragraph of Article 197 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) as well as the future(?) Lisbon Treaty Article 14(4) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) let the European Parliament decide freely on most of its internal organisation.


Rules of Procedure

The main text in this respect is the Rules of Procedure (16th edition, October 2008), available at:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+RULES-EP+20081022+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN


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Group and strength

The Rules of Procedure make it quite clear that the political groups run the show. After a recent amendment ─ Resolution P6_TA(2007)0499 ─ only one of the non-attached members (non-inscrits, NI) is allowed to attend the meetings of the Conference of Presidents, without a vote.

Among the political groups, the bottom line is that the larger ones decide. Even if each group is represented in the Conference of Presidents, the chairs of the political groups vote according to the parliamentary strength of their groups:

Rule 23 Composition of the Conference of Presidents

1. The Conference of Presidents shall consist of the President of Parliament and the chairs of the political groups. The chair of a political group may arrange to be represented by a member of that group.

2. The non-attached Members shall delegate one of their number to attend meetings of the Conference of Presidents, without having the right to vote.

3. The Conference of Presidents shall endeavour to reach a consensus on matters referred to it.

Where a consensus cannot be reached, the matter shall be put to a vote subject to a weighting based on the number of Members in each political group.


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The requirements for a political group will be treated in a later post.


Ralf Grahn

European Parliament: Conference of Presidents ─ political business

The English versions of the current Article 197 TEC and Article 14(4) TEU of the consolidated Lisbon Treaty regulate only that the European Parliament elects its President and its officers from among its members. In other language versions the officers are defined as the Bureau.

The rest of the internal organisation of the European Parliament is left to itself, with the EP Rules of Procedure as the centrepiece.

Among the various 16th editions the one from October 2008 seems to be the latest, available here:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+RULES-EP+20081022+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN


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Conference of Presidents

Composition

Rule 23 lays down the composition of the Conference of Presidents. The composition highlights the importance of the political groups in the running of parliamentary business. Their chairs are members of the Conference of Presidents, chaired by the EP President. Despite the aim to reach consensus the bottom line is that the largest parliamentary groups dominate, because their chairs vote with their number of MEPs. One non-attached member participates, but without a vote:


Rule 23 Composition of the Conference of Presidents

1. The Conference of Presidents shall consist of the President of Parliament and the chairs of the political groups. The chair of a political group may arrange to be represented by a member of that group.

2. The non-attached Members shall delegate one of their number to attend meetings of the Conference of Presidents, without having the right to vote.

3. The Conference of Presidents shall endeavour to reach a consensus on matters referred to it.

Where a consensus cannot be reached, the matter shall be put to a vote subject to a weighting based on the number of Members in each political group.


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Duties

The Conference of Presidents is responsible for planning the legislative work and the agendas of the part-sessions, for questions relating to committees, for relations with the Commission and the Council as well as other EU bodies. The Conference maintains relations with national parliaments and non-EU countries and organisations. Seating arrangements and matters relating to the political groups fall within the remit of the Conference:


Rule 24 Duties of the Conference of Presidents

1. The Conference of Presidents shall carry out the duties assigned to it under the Rules of Procedure.

2. The Conference of Presidents shall take decisions on the organisation of Parliament's work and matters relating to legislative planning.

3. The Conference of Presidents shall be the authority responsible for matters relating to relations with the other institutions and bodies of the European Union and with the national parliaments of Member States. The Bureau shall name two Vice-Presidents who shall be entrusted with the implementation of the relations with national parliaments. They shall report back regularly to the Conference of Presidents on their activities in this regard.

4. The Conference of Presidents shall be the authority responsible for matters relating to relations with non-member countries and with non-Union institutions and organisations.

5. The Conference of Presidents shall draw up the draft agenda of Parliament's part-sessions.

6. The Conference of Presidents shall be the authority responsible for the composition and competence of committees, committees of inquiry and joint parliamentary committees, standing delegations and ad hoc delegations.

7. The Conference of Presidents shall decide how seats in the Chamber are to be allocated pursuant to Rule 32.

8. The Conference of Presidents shall be the authority responsible for authorising the drawing up of own-initiative reports.

9. The Conference of Presidents shall submit proposals to the Bureau concerning administrative and budgetary matters relating to the political groups.


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Suspension or removal of MEP

Among the penalties for serious misconduct, generally decided by the President, is the submission to the Conference of Presidents, pursuant to Rule 18, of a proposal for the Member's suspension or removal from one or more of the elected offices held by the Member in Parliament, according to Rule 147(2)(d).


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Europarty in breach of f(o)unding principles

Title XI of the Rules of Procedure deal with the relations with Europarties, officially political parties at European level (Rules 198 to 200).

According to Rule 200(1) the Conference of Presidents engages in an exchange of views ahead of a possible decision to refer to the committee responsible the question whether or not a political party at European level is continuing to observe (in particular in its programme and in its activities) the principles upon which the European Union is founded, namely the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.


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Accountability

Again we see a positive commitment to openness and transparency. The minutes of the Conference of Presidents are distributed to all MEPs.

The minutes are ‘accessible to the public’, but the meaning of that is unclear. My meager efforts to locate these and other internal documents of the European Parliament on its web pages have come to naught:


Rule 28 Accountability of the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents

1. The minutes of the Bureau and the Conference of Presidents shall be translated into the official languages, printed and distributed to all Members of Parliament and shall be accessible to the public, unless the Bureau or the Conference of Presidents exceptionally, for reasons of confidentiality, as laid down in Article 4(1) to (4) of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, decides otherwise with regard to certain items of the minutes.

2. Any Member may ask questions related to the work of the Bureau, the Conference of Presidents and the Quaestors. Such questions shall be submitted to the President in writing and published in the Bulletin of Parliament within thirty days of tabling, together with the answers given.


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Who are they?

There is a listing of the members of the Conference of Presidents on the following EP web page:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/otherBodies/search.do?body=1510&language=EN


1.
PÖTTERING, Hans-Gert President
2.
DAUL, Joseph Member
3.
SCHULZ, Martin Member
4.
WATSON, Graham Member
5.
CROWLEY, Brian Member
6.
MUSCARDINI, Cristiana Member
7.
FRASSONI, Monica Member
8.
COHN-BENDIT, Daniel Member
9.
WURTZ, Francis Member
10.
FARAGE, Nigel Member
11.
BELOHORSKÁ, Irena Member



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The European Parliament should step up its efforts to inform the public of the internal aspects of its work.


Ralf Grahn