By Martin Banks - 19th January 2012
The spectacle of parliament spending nearly three days to fill up its own bureau is faintly ridiculous
Andrew Duff
Parliament's new president Martin Schulz has been urged to back a proposal for a radical shake-up in the way the assembly's vice-presidents are elected.
The demand, from ALDE's Andrew Duff, comes after parliament this week approved the election of 14 vice-presidents at their plenary in Strasbourg.
The vice-presidents make up the assembly's influential bureau, which is responsible for administrative issues and the currently thorny issue of MEPs' expenses.
Duff, parliament's rapporteur on electoral reform, is unhappy with the current set-up and says this week's elections should trigger a revision of the institution's own rules for internal elections.
He has now written to Schulz to propose a change to what is known as the Single Transferable Vote (STV).
In his letter Duff says, "STV would allow members to express their order of preference for candidates and would considerably speed up the election of the bureau.
"Under STV no vote is wasted. STV is a much more sophisticated form of election than the simple agglomeration of equal preferences which we use at the moment.
"STV is in fact ideal for use in a small, well integrated and highly political institution such as ours."
Duff, a constitutional expert who is Liberal spokesman on constitutional affairs, added, "The spectacle of parliament spending nearly three days to fill up its own bureau is faintly ridiculous.
"It is also depressing that MEPs cannot express priorities under the present system, but only crude support or opposition to a slate of candidates.
"I hope that our reforming president will agree to expedite this reform as fast as possible."
On Wednesday, all 14 vice-presidents were elected in the third round with a simple majority of the valid votes cast. UK ALDE deputy Edward McMillan-Scott was re-elected vice-president.
Five quaestors were also elected with Irish EPP member Jim Higgins being re-elected a quaestor.
The 14 vice-presidents elected are Gianni Pittella (S&D, IT), Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez (S&D, ES), Anni Podimata (S&D, EL), Alejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP, ES), Georgios Papastamkos (EPP,EL), Roberta Angalilli (EPP, IT), Othmar Karas (EPP, AT), Edward McMillan-Scott (ALDE, UK), Isabelle Durant (Green/EFA, BE), Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, DE), Rainer Wieland (EPP, DE), Oldrich Vlasák (ECR, CZ), Jacek Prostasiewicz (EPP, PL) and László Surján (EPP, HU).
Quaestors were elected in the third ballot by simple majority of the votes.
They are Astrid Lulling (EPP, LU), Jim Higgins (EPP, IE), Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (S&D, PL), Boguslaw Liberadzki (S&D, PL), Jirí Maštálka (GUE/NGL, CZ).
