Censure ‘unlikely’ for Commission over Eurostat

Date: 29/04/04

THE European Commission is facing a slap on the wrist next week over its handling of the Eurostat affair.

At their monthly plenary in Strasbourg, MEPs will vote on a motion of censure against the Commission, which was widely criticized for not acting soon enough to stamp out fraud at the EU's statistical agency.

As only 65 members have signed the motion, the vote on Tuesday (4 May) is not likely to garner enough support to result in a formal censure. In order to be adopted, a motion of censure needs to secure a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, representing a majority of MEPs.

Danish Eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, who has spearheaded calls for a censure, admitted the motion was "unlikely to get the necessary support but this is bound to add pressure on the Commission to at least accept some responsibility for Eurostat".

Meanwhile, next week's plenary will welcome members from accession states as full MEPs for the first time.

For nearly 12 months, 162 observers have been "shadowing" MEPs but after their countries become official EU members on 1 May, they will take their seats in Strasbourg as fully- fledged deputies.

Their new status will be relatively short-lived as Parliament effectively breaks up for ten weeks after next week's session as MEPs hit the campaign trail for the European elections on 10-13 June.

The first thing they will do in their new capacity will be to vote on approving the ten commissioners from the new member states on Wednesday 5 May.

The European Parliament voted on 4 May 2004 on a motion of censure against the European Commission over the Eurostat affair, which was tabled and debated during the April 2004 session. 88 members supported the motion, but 515 voted against, with 63 abstentions, so the motion was rejected.