Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
NathalieBrack
maingroups.Overall,theyremainonthemarginsofthedailyworkofthe
EuropeanParliamentandlackinfluenceonthedecision-makingprocess.15
Finally,theformalandinformalrulesoftheEPactasanimportant
constraintforhardEuroscepticMEPs.Indeed,overtime,theEPhasadapted
itselftothepresenceofdissentingvoices,andgraduallyreformeditsrulesof
procedure.16Nowadays,suchMEPshaverestrictedroomformanoeuvre.In
addition,theinformalpracticesofthemajorityoftheEPtendtoexcludethe
mostradicalMEPs.Thethreemaingroups(theEPP,theS&D,andALDE)
worktogethercloselyandtendtodominatethelegislativework.Theydonot
needthesupportoffringegroupssuchastheEFDDorthenon-attached,and
thereforeradicalandpopulistpartieslackanyblackmailpower.Moreover,
asshownbyStartin,17thereisasortofcordonsanitaire,especiallyaround
populistradicalrightmembers,asthemajorityoftheMEPsarehostileto
theirpresenceintheEP.Theytendtobeexcludedfromtheprocessofreport
allocation,aswellasfromholdingresponsibilitiesandpositionswithin
theEP.Forinstance,evenwhentherewasa(technical)radicalrightgroup
between1984and1994,itsmemberswerenevergrantedthepresidency
ofanycommittee,oraccesstoEPgroups’cooperation.Similarly,theITS
group,formedanddissolvedin2007,wastheonlygroupwhosemembers
wereneverinchargeofanyreportandneverheldthe(vice-)presidencyof
acommittee.Thiscordonsanitaireseemstohavebeenextendedforthe8th
parliamentaryterm,astheEFDDgroupwasdeniedfirstthepresidencyof
anyparliamentarycommittee,then,intheautumnof2014,waspushedoutof
therunningfortoppositionsintheparliamentarydelegationsbyacoalition
betweentheEPP,ALDEandtheS&D.
So,despitetheirincreasedelectoralsuccessandtheirrecordnumberof
MEPs,radicalandpopulistrightwingEuroscepticpartiestendtobeunable
toinfluencethedecisionstakenattheEuropeanlevel.However,theelectoral
successofthesepartiesmayhaveimplicationsforthefunctioningoftheEP.
Arecentstudyshowsthattheincreasedpresenceofdissentingvoiceshas
15
N.Brack,“EuroscepticismattheSupranationalLevel:TheCaseofthe‘UntidyRight’
intheEuropeanParliament,”JournalofCommonMarketStudies,vol.51,no.1,2013,
pp.85-104.
16
N.Brack,O.Costa,C.Dri,“LeParlementeuropéenàlarecherchedel’efficacitélégislative:
uneanalysedesévolutionsdesonorganisation,”BrugesPoliticalSciencePapers,no.39,
2015.
17
N.Startin,“WheretofortheRadicalRightintheEuropeanParliament?TheRiseandFall
ofTransnationalPoliticalCooperation,”PerspectivesonEuropeanPoliticsandSociety,
vol.11,no.4,2010,pp.429-449.
14
ThePolishQuarterlyofInternationalAffairs,2015,no.2