Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

Eurosceptic Bloc in EU Parliament Collapses

A bloc of Eurosceptic parties in the European Union';s Parliament has lost its status as a recognized grouping. The fall came about after Latvian MEP Iveta Grigule's exit from the group. To qualify as a group, a bloc must have members from seven different EU member states. Ms. Grigule's resignation from the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group left it one shy of that benchmark. EFDD members are claiming EP President Martin Schulz engineered the whole thing.

The EFDD's largest constituent member is the UK Independence Party led by Nigel Farage. Its 24 members make up half of the EFDD membership. Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement from Italy has 17 MEPs. Other members included the Sweden Democrats, one French independent, and MEPs from the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

Mr. Farage alleges that Mr. Schulz secured Ms. Grigule's resignation from the EFDD in exchange for the leadership of a parliamentary delegation on Kazakhstan. These delegations have no real power, but they support the parliament's interaction with third countries. On Wednesday, the EFDD lost out on top spots in these delegations.

Mr. Farage stated, "It is clear that the European Parliament does not follow its long-term practice of sharing delegation and chairmanship positions in a fair manner according to the D"Hondt system. If we are correct in our understanding about the events, President Schulz would be more suited to being the president of a parliament in a banana republic. It would seem he has exceeded his role that should apply to a neutral chairman or president of a parliament. I believe this is an example of political bias on an extraordinary scale."

What difference does it make if the EFDD is recognized or not as a grouping within the EP? Chris Morris of the BBC explained, "According to one source in the European Parliament, the EFDD group was due to get just over 4m euros (£3.2m; $5m) in funding in 2015 - more than 80,000 euros per MEP in the group. For UKIP, with 24 MEPs, that's more than 2m euros of revenue hanging in the balance. Half of it usually goes to the communications budget - a valuable resource in an election year." The UK has a general election coming this spring, and UKIP has just won its first by-election. That money would come in very handy in the coming months.

As a member of the European Parliament without any attachment (called "NI" in the vocabulary of the EP), Ms. Grigule will be excluded from the total 59.8 million euro (£48m; $76m) pot allocated to groups to cover their administrative expenses. She will receive about 43,000 euro for her own office, about half of what she could have expected as part of a recognized EFDD. Further, she cannot table group amendments or motions for resolutions at full EP sessions.

One further limit set on NI MEPs says that she cannot be head or deputy head of EP committees or delegations. That being the case, one can only conclude that Mr. Farage had it wrong when he claimed her resignation was engineered in exchange for such a post. The UKIP leader does have a rather distant relationship with the truth in many areas, and so, one would not be surprised by him being wrong again here. Any politician who took a 2m euro hit to his budget months before a general election would be upset.

Meanwhile, one will watch Ms. Grigule's career henceforth with great fascination.

© Copyright 2014 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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