French bid to muzzle MEPs

Date: 13/03/1997

By Rory Watson

The French government, still simmering at recent European parliamentary criticism of its draft anti-immigration legislation, is struggling to find ways to prevent MEPs from passing similarly embarrassing judgements on national policies in future.

Privately, French sources admit they cannot see how the Intergovernmental Conference could be used to stop the Parliament from airing its views on whatever issues it wishes - even though the country's foreign minister has said he will raise the issue at the IGC talks.

“It is difficult to see what could be done in the treaty. But perhaps the Parliament should realise it is not good for it to be seen to be attacking a national government during the IGC. MEPs should think of the consequences of their resolutions and respect subsidiarity,” said one French official.

But the Parliament has firmly rejected the argument that MEPs should not express their views on a member state's internal legislative procedures.

“You cannot stop the European Parliament discussing a subject. Immigration is an issue of European concern, as the Maastricht Treaty confirms, so the Parliament does have an involvement here. And as for the subsidiarity argument, that applies to legislation. MEPs cannot decide on immigration, but they can have an opinion,” said one official.

The campaign to curb the Parliament is being led by French Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette, who strongly criticised MEPs for their decision last month to call on Paris to withdraw its controversial Debré bill designed to tighten up existing rules on third country immigrants.

De Charette insisted that European institutions should not meddle in areas outside their competence.

The diplomatic row ignited by his remark that the EU institution was “not worthy of the name” led to the Parliament's President José-María Gil-Robles cancelling a planned meeting in Paris with De Charette. The two men are now due to meet in Rome on 25 March when the Union celebrates the 40th anniversary of its founding treaty.

The Parliament's support for Gil-Robles' stance and determination not to be shaken by the French government's criticism was echoed in Strasbourg this week by groups across the political spectrum, with the notable exception of the French-dominated Europe of Nations Group.

In a bid to clear the air, Gil-Robles wrote to French President Jacques Chirac last week explaining that the issue of immigration was one of mutual interest to all EU members. He stressed that the resolution on rescinding the bill was merely an invitation to the French government, which MEPs readily acknowledged was the only competent authority in this area.

Although the parliamentary motion also called on the German government to repeal its order introducing a visa requirement for minors of immigrant families from Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and the former Yugoslavia, the move has not provoked any outcry in Bonn.

As France goes on the offensive, the Parliament's most senior members have agreed to consider internal changes in the way emergency resolutions are handled. They are contemplating altering the time of the week at which emergency resolutions are debated by MEPs during their regular Strasbourg plenary sessions to try to ensure a higher turn-out for votes.

“Urgent motions are now held on a Thursday afternoon. We are looking to see whether to move them to Thursday mornings so that, when really important issues are being discussed, as many MEPs as possible can be present,” explained one official.

The vote on the racism and xenophobia resolution last month which caused French President Jacques Chirac and his government such offence involved just over one-third of the 626 MEPs.