In its first policy paper, a new Romanian think-tank makes recommendations for the next European Parliament elections, EurActiv Romania reported. The Romanian Centre for European Policies (CRPE) believes Romania has the highest proportion of MEP resignations of all EU countries.
According to the research, nine of the 35 Romanian MEPs elected in 2007 upon the country's accession to the bloc have resigned. This, claims the think-tank, makes Romania a "delinquent" when it comes to European Parliament resignations. In comparison, the paper notes that none of the 18 MEPs from Bulgaria - which joined the EU at the same time - have resigned.
In Romania, a career within the European Parliament is seen as a low-level substitute for a national one, so once an alternative turns up in Bucharest, the parliamentary mandate becomes "disposable", according to the think-tank.
There are in fact countries with even greater numbers of resignations, but the Romania is considered to be the worst example, because the others countries held European elections in 2004 and resignations thus took place over a longer period of time. Italy has the highest number of resignations (39 MEPs), with exactly half of its members opting for another job. The resignation rate for Denmark is 35.7%, Greece 29.1%, the Netherlands 22.2% and Finland 21.4%.
However, there are also countries with no resignations: Cyprus, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia. The overall resignation rate for the entire EU assembly is 13.2%.
In its recommendations, the think-tank states:
"The candidates supported by the political parties for the upcoming June elections should sign public commitments stating they would not resign the mandate. This would be equivalent to an informal tool of accountability and could have an impact on reducing the number of those looking for a temporary position in the European Parliament. We will remind [members] about this commitment every time an MEP resigns."
