For the last few days, a controversial figure has been bandied around the corridors of the European Parliament: the institution has spent half a million euro on organisations whose job is to rank MEPs. This revelation is all the more infuriating since MEPs are not particularly enthusiastic about such organisations, which assess deputies' work only "on the basis of quantitative criteria," says a report on the discharge, which will be voted on in plenary at the end of April. As…
Lobbies reward MEPs
Every year, 20 MEPs are given prizes for their activities in a certain area. Each category is sponsored: for example, health by the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture by the fertiliser sector. If an explanation of 300 words on the merits of the nominated MEP is provided, anyone can submit a name: the MEP, an official, citizen or lobby – including, of course, the sponsor. The organiser, who is paid by the sponsors, selects three names, and MEPs then vote to select one of these for each category. This selection period leads to the sending of many "emotive mails from MEPs who are trying to encourage their peers to vote for them," says one assistant. This year, almost 500 MEPs voted. During the ceremony, the winning MEP received his prize from the lobby's sponsor, and posed with him for a photo. According to Michèle Rivasi (Greens, France), this is "the best possible way of undermining the democratic legitimacy of MEPs. We are not elected to keep industry happy, but to represent the interests of our citizens - and these are often diametrically opposed to those of the lobbies that sponsor the MEP awards". Gerbrandy, who won the environment category this year, said "the nomination procedure is not very clear and transparency not very impressive," but he nonetheless recognised that "it is still nice to win".
