The fallout from the fudged Lisbon Treaty is already causing problems, says Kate Holman
When is a Member of the European Parliament not a Member of the European Parliament? Apparently, when he or she gains a seat under the new Lisbon Treaty, but is trapped in the middle of a prolonged squabble over formal procedures.
The treaty, which finally reached the end of its tortuous ratification process and came into force on December 1 last year, gives the European Parliament new powers over European legislation and 18 extra seats, increasing the number of MEPs from 736 to 754 – until the next elections in 2014, when it falls to 751.
At least eight of the 12 countries with extra representation have already identified their candidates, but others – including Britain, which gains one seat – are dragging their feet. Even when the names are known, all 27 European Union governments then have to agree and ratify further legal steps. It could be months or even years before all the 18 “virtual” or “phantom” MEPs, as they have become known, finally take up their seats in the Strasbourg chamber.
One problem is that electoral law is a national matter and differs from country to country. Some nations, such as Sweden and Austria, simply allocated places to runners-up in last June’s European elections. Swedish Pirate Party member Amelia Andersdotter, for example – at 22, the youngest member of the EP – has already been hanging around waiting in Brussels for months.
In Britain, things are more complicated. The Electoral Commission has yet to decide how to select one MEP from 12 regional constituencies. Most commentators expect an additional Conservative to emerge from the large West Midlands region, but some sources predict a battle in the offing with both Scotland and London laying claim to the extra place.
The fiercest controversy centres on France, where the government has proposed picking two national MPs to send to the European Parliament. The Greens have denounced the idea as “a democratic aberration”, while other French MEPs are furious that it could weaken their own credibility.
In the meantime, EU member states will have to agree on treaty changes to allow the new members to take their seats in the middle of the parliamentary mandate. This is likely to mean holding an intergovernmental conference, and the fear is that this will reopen the door to individual countries’ demands in a whole range of other areas.
Further, the EP has yet to put forward its own proposals for change. What MEPs definitely do not want are new members “dribbling” in, country by country. As British Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff has pointed out, this would upset the whole political balance of the assembly.
While some observers see the debacle as predictable fallout from the fudged and imperfect Lisbon Treaty, others point angrily to a lack of transparency and democracy in the way the EU works, liable to alienate voters even further.
Indeed, some even blame the intransigence of the British for preventing the evolution of a proper constitutional treaty back in the 1970s.
