Summing up lessons learned from the French EU Presidency on Friday (12 December), current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy called for less rigid rules and more flexibility and pragmatism at EU summits. In the event, though, a number of MEPs who wanted to react and talk to journalists about the summit's conclusions found themselves forced to remain outside giving interviews in the cold.
The Council's rules of access allow for some 20 access badges to MEPs during EU summits, but only if the president of the European Parliament attends the meeting on the same day, a Council official told EurActiv. Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering attended the EU summit on 11 December and made a speech, but since he was not physically present the next day, no MEPs were allowed into the Council.
This made the work of journalists more diffucult, as they had to constantly move between the Council and its immediate surroundings, where MEPs were stating their reactions.
Speaking in plenary yesterday (16 December), Monica Frassoni, co-president of the European Greens, said such practicew were even more unacceptable given the Parliament's co-decision role in EU affairs. Poettering said his office had tried everything in its attempts to gain access to the Council for MEPs, without success.
ALDE President Graham Watson told EurActiv that the Council's rules were "scandalous". "If Europe's citizens knew the disrespect shown by the member states towards their elected representatives, there would be a scandal. Political group and political party leaders, at least, accompanied by those piloting relevant legislation, should be allowed access at all times to EU summits," said Watson.
