7 April 2022
Update 7 April 2022, 16:00: In reaction to the ECR Group’s protest, the EPP Group has had a change of heart and given us a slot in the debate on "European democracy“.
The majority groups of the European Parliament have decided not to grant the ECR Group speaking time in the Conference on the Future of Europe debate on “European Democracy”, which will take place on Friday, 10.45, am in Strasbourg. Instead, the EPP and S&D Groups have allocated themselves two slots.
For Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Chair of the ECR Working Group on Institutional Reform and ECR Spokesperson at the Conference, it is “beyond paradoxical that the self-proclaimed, pro-European democrats want to exclude a centre-right, conservative group from a debate on European democracy”.
“We should have a lively debate in which different opinions are represented and not just devote practically all of Parliament’s speaking time to one opinion, namely that of the Spinelli Group, which dominates most of the majority groups.
“The moderate conservative camp in the European Parliament will not be represented. This is all the more regrettable as we see ourselves as a constructive force that wants to reform the EU to make it work better. We don’t see ourselves as Euro-critics or enemies of the European Union, but as Euro-realists. The war in Ukraine and its antecedents show that the mainstream in Brussels was wrong. It is in everyone’s interest to allow constructive opposition, and that is what it must do.
“Should this unequal distribution of speaking time in the debate on European democracy be not revised, ECR MEPs will withdraw from this plenary session of the Conference on the Future of Europe.”
The distribution of speaking time among political groups in the debate on European democracy is as follows: 1) EPP, 2) S&D, 3) Renew Europe, 4) EPP, 5) S&D, 6) Greens, 7) ID.
The EPP Group even has a third speaker, Manfred Weber, who will speak as chairman.