
Heckling to be banned in European Parliament London Telegraph \|\| January 18, 2006 Related - The Real Face Of The European Union The European Parliament will this week approve a strict new disciplinary code to stamp out banner-waving, heckling and other protests. British Eurosceptics say it targets anti-federalist MEPs. The 732-member parliament has agreed to increase the powers of its president and senior MEPs who run the parliament and interpret its rules of procedure. The new rule book will tell MEPs to base their conduct on "mutual respect" and the "values and principles laid down in the basic texts on which the European Union is founded". The code will apply in all three seats of the parliament - in Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg. Sanctions will include being rebuked, being denied the daily subsistence allowance for up to 10 days, and exclusion for up to 10 days, though voting rights will remain intact. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com The president of the parliament, Josep Borrell, a Spanish Socialist, has long sought powers to clamp down on what he considers disruptive behaviour, such as waving national emblems during speeches. The new code vows to uphold "vibrant" free speech and to leave intact the right to stage silent "visual actions", provided they are "not offensive and/or defamatory". Gérard Onesta, the French Green MEP who drew up the new code, said Greens supported the right to political protest in the chamber: "We have held up umbrellas to protest against acid rain, worn T-shirts with slogans, or held up flags but we know how to do it without resorting to insults, defamation and violence - and we have seen too much of that in the last year." A British Labour MEP who approved the rules in committee, Richard Corbett, said the parliament's leaders currently had far less power to maintain order than the Speaker of the House of Commons. But Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP who sat on the committee that drafted the new rules but voted against them, said they handed "still more arbitrary power" to senior MEPs, who were "blatant" in their bias against Eurosceptics. He pointed to wording in the motion outlining the new rules, which explained that disruptions had increased since the last European parliamentary elections in 2004. He said that referred to the arrival of large numbers of new Eurosceptic members, from the United Kingdom Independence Party, but also from new member states in eastern and central Europe. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Heckling to be banned in European Parliament

London Telegraph || January 18, 2006

Related - The Real Face Of The European Union

The European Parliament will this week approve a strict new disciplinary code to stamp out banner-waving, heckling and other protests.

British Eurosceptics say it targets anti-federalist MEPs.

The 732-member parliament has agreed to increase the powers of its president and senior MEPs who run the parliament and interpret its rules of procedure.

The new rule book will tell MEPs to base their conduct on "mutual respect" and the "values and principles laid down in the basic texts on which the European Union is founded".

The code will apply in all three seats of the parliament - in Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg.

Sanctions will include being rebuked, being denied the daily subsistence allowance for up to 10 days, and exclusion for up to 10 days, though voting rights will remain intact.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

The president of the parliament, Josep Borrell, a Spanish Socialist, has long sought powers to clamp down on what he considers disruptive behaviour, such as waving national emblems during speeches.

The new code vows to uphold "vibrant" free speech and to leave intact the right to stage silent "visual actions", provided they are "not offensive and/or defamatory".

Gérard Onesta, the French Green MEP who drew up the new code, said Greens supported the right to political protest in the chamber: "We have held up umbrellas to protest against acid rain, worn T-shirts with slogans, or held up flags but we know how to do it without resorting to insults, defamation and violence - and we have seen too much of that in the last year."

A British Labour MEP who approved the rules in committee, Richard Corbett, said the parliament's leaders currently had far less power to maintain order than the Speaker of the House of Commons.

But Daniel Hannan, a Conservative MEP who sat on the committee that drafted the new rules but voted against them, said they handed "still more arbitrary power" to senior MEPs, who were "blatant" in their bias against Eurosceptics. He pointed to wording in the motion outlining the new rules, which explained that disruptions had increased since the last European parliamentary elections in 2004.

He said that referred to the arrival of large numbers of new Eurosceptic members, from the United Kingdom Independence Party, but also from new member states in eastern and central Europe.

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