Court President suspends European Parliament decision preventing creation of a Technical Group of Independent Members

26/11/1999 (Agence Europe)

At first sight, nothing in the European Parliament's Rules of Procedures would seem to prevent Members with different political affinities from joining forces so as to benefit from the recognised prerogatives of the political groups. Further, Charles de Gaulle and Jean-Claude Martinez will suffer serious and irreparable injury if Parliament's decision preventing them from creating a mixed group is maintained until a decision on the merit of the case can be taken. This is the gist of the interim ruling handed down by the President of the Court of First Instance, in response to the request by the two aforementioned MEPs.

For Bo Vesterdorf, it cannot be ruled out that Parliament committed arbitrary discrimination against the two Members by preventing them from establishing the TIM group (Technical Group of Independent Members). Political groups of a technical nature have been allowed since 1979 without Parliament's opposition, he explained. Further, "Parliament, in its composition following the latest elections, did not express opposition to the constitution of the Europe of Democracies and Diversities group, presented by applicants as being a mixed group".

The President of the Court added that Parliament's decision causes serious and irreparable injury to the complainants: it is impossible for them to benefit from the rights and advantages enjoyed by political groups and they are not in a position to "express themselves, as representatives of the people of the States of the Community, in the same conditions as Members belonging to a political group".