Kritiek op achterkamertjes-benoeming van nieuwe voorzitter Europees Parlement (en)

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - With German MEP Hans-Gert Poettering now approved as the centre-right candidate for the European Parliament's presidency, a group of MEPs across the political spectrum have launched a campaign calling for a set of parliament reforms.

Mr Poettering, as the only candidate, was nominated unanimously by his fellow centre-right MEPs on Tuesday evening (14 November).

As part of a deal made in 2004, he can be sure of the support of socialist MEPs, representing the second biggest parliamentary group, when the wider parliament votes on his candidacy in January.

However, Mr Poettering also wants to convince liberal MEPs to support him. He is meeting them on Wednesday, to haggle over future parliamentary arrangements on issues such as plenary debates.

But in the run up to the meeting, there was criticism about the "coronation-style" deal between the two largest political groups which secures the presidency post for him even without liberal or other smaller groups' support.

Meanwhile, a group of MEPs from all political groups, mainly sharing eurosceptic views, on Tuesday kicked off a campaign for more radical changes in the EU assembly, with a view to putting up their own candidate.

The "fair chair campaign" calls for five key goals for their would-be president, including a change in the way MEPs are appointed to various parliament bodies and the objective of having a single seat for the parliament.

Speaking at a press conference launching the campaign, Maltese Socialist MEP John Attard-Montalto said that the current appointment system "favours the larger political parties and states with more MEPs."

"It is against the basic principle of solidarity as this system favours the big and most numerous rather than the most competent," he noted, adding that deputies from most new EU member states have often been frustrated by the issue.

The British conservative MEP, Daniel Hannan, argued that the parliament's president should be neutral and act as "the speaker of the whole assembly and not just as someone representing his group."

The reform campaigners also criticise the pre-cooked deals between the biggest groups which led to the centre right-socialist stitch up for the current legislature period on who chairs the House.

Socialist chief Mr Schultz told EUobserver however, "I understand the frustration of smaller groups but there is nothing un-democratic in these arrangements."

The fair chair campaigners have not yet officially introduced their candidate to represent their pro-reform agenda, but it is likely that the Danish eurosceptic MEP, Jens Peter Bonde, will run for them.

"It depends on the approach of other parties. Ideally, we could have a liberal candidate but despite some earlier signals of interest, the liberals have not joined forces with us," said Mr Bonde.

The two candidates could also be joined by candidates from the leftist GUE/NGE group and the greens, with both groups not having decided yet whether to put forward a contestant for the 16 January vote.