28/10/1999 (Agence Europe)

Members of the EP elected on the Bonino List (non-attached) have criticised in a statement the decision taken on Monday by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs to appoint Richard Corbett (Labour, UK) rapporteur for the modifications to the EP Rules of Procedure requested by them (and by many Members from all groups) for the creation of a "Mixed Group" in Parliament. It will be recalled that Members elected on the Bonino List are demanding the setting into place of such a group in order to put an end to "discriminations" against non-attached Members. Until this issue is settled, they are refusing to participate in Parliament's votes. The fact of choosing as rapporteur a member of the Socialist group, whose leaders have so far shown little sensitivity or interest in the creation of a Mixed Group, hardly offers hope, in their view, of "counteracting bureaucratic and anti-democratic excess" and reiterating the rights and prerogatives of all Members, and therefore of non-attached Members as well. The Radical M

embers announce that they will pursue their "internal struggle" in Parliament with their "strike on votes in plenary and in committees", and their external struggle with a proceeding before the Court of Justice aimed at obtaining a ruling rendering illegitimate decisions that "annual the rights of individual Members".