EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: PARLIAMENT CLOSE TO POLITICAL COMPROMISE ON STATUTE FOR MEPS.

The Conference of Presidents welcomed the report from the Group of Eminent Persons which it commissioned in February (see European Report No 2479 for further details). It cancelled the meeting of the contact group on the Statute for MEPs with the Portuguese Presidency which had been scheduled for June 13 on the fringes of the General Affairs Council, pending the drafting and adoption of the new draft Statute. In its last report to the Council on this dossier, Portugal's European Affairs Minister, Francisco Seixas da Costa, defended the notion of arriving at an informal compromise with President Nicole Fontaine before the adoption of the new text.The work of Parliament.The report from the Group of Eminent Persons states that the increase in Parliament's powers in the wake of the new Treaties has resulted in the current Parliament changing significantly, from the point of view of its role in the institutional structure of the Community and its powers and responsibilities. "These changes have obviously been reflected in an increased workload and hence the workload of Members, since the nature of a Member's activities and duties is heavily dependent on Parliaments prerogatives". The report notes that "the characteristics of parliamentary office are the same for all Members, irrespective of the electoral system used in their countries. They all carry out the same parliamentary work in accordance with the rules governing the way in which Parliament operates".As a general rule, each Member serves on two standing parliamentary committees, as a full member of one and as a substitute member of the other. Some 30 to 35 reports, on average, are placed on the agenda for a Strasbourg part-session. "It goes without saying that the amount of personal work involved on the part of a rapporteur is in proportion to the degree of (legal or technical) complexity of the matter in hand or the proposal which has been submitted, its implications and consequences and the sensitivity of the matter", says the Eminent Persons Group. Practice has also led to the development of a particular role within parliamentary committees which requires extra preparation. Time and monitoring, namely that of political group "co-ordinator".Within Parliament, Members (there are 626) may organise themselves into groups reflecting political affinities. There are at present eight political groups and eight non-attached Members. Each political group determines its own modus operandi. In general, however, full group meetings, take place at least twice a month along with meetings of specialist working parties, which cover one or more parliamentary committees; co-ordination meetings, meetings of the national delegations making up a group, study days to examine specific topics or future prospects, meetings called in response to personal initiatives by group members, etc. It is also important for Members to spend time on political group work, in the knowledge that the groups, in addition to shaping political debate, have a significant role in the workings of Parliament (speaking time in plenary, choice of speakers, appointment of rapporteurs in committee, access to positions of specific responsibility or to certain offices, etc.).It may also be noted that many international Agreements concluded by the European Union make explicit provision for parliamentary co-operation, and have...