Row erupts over plans to trim number of EU parliamentary groups

A furious row has flared over controversial plans which would effectively cut the number of political groups in parliament.
 
A report drafted by UK Socialist deputy Richard Corbett aims to raise the threshold for the formation of parliamentary groups.
 
At present, parliamentary rules state that groups should comprise at least 20 MEPs from one-fifth of member states.
 
Under Corbett's proposal, however, this would be raised to 30 members from a quarter of EU countries.
 
The move has incensed the UEN group and the UK Independence Party, which fear they would not meet the necessary criteria for political groupings under the new rules.
 
Corbett's report also seeks to restrict the number of questions MEPs can ask EU commissioners. At present, deputies can ask an unlimited number of questions but the proposal is to limit this to three per month.
 
Graham Booth, a UKIP MEP, called the proposals “scary”.
 
He also criticised a separate proposal from German Socialist MEP Jo Leinen that seeks to give parliament powers to take national governments to court, irrespective of whether the Lisbon treaty – which also makes a similar provision – is adopted.
 
The constitutional affairs committee was due to vote on both reports on Tuesday.
 
It is claimed that, if approved, the Corbett proposal would result in the EPP and PES groups, parliament's two largest, being able to chair all parliament's committees and similarly dominate membership of the assembly's all-powerful bureau.
 
Booth said, "These people are so scared of public opinion they are willing to set in stone the right to ignore it. Worse still, they do not even want elected members to be able to able to hold them accountable for their actions."
 
Criticism also came from Andrew Duff of the ALDE group, who said, "Corbett's proposal should be resisted. It would not look well for the two large groups of the EPP and PES to be domineering. They already have a lot of power to determine how the parliament is run and to influence legislation."

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