- 'We saw the utter farce of Euro MPs giving 90 second speeches' (Western Mail Business columnist - June 2003)
- 'MEPs are allowed to address the European Parliament for a maximum of 90 seconds in any one debate' (Letter to Stoke Sentinel, January 2005).
- MEPs are told when they can speak and how long for - usually under a minute (Letter to Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, September 2005)
The political groups within the Parliament are allocated speaking time in proportion to their numbers of MEPs and it is up to them how that time is divided between their MEPs.
One minute is the minimum, not the norm. The most common speaking time is 5-6 minutes for a party or group spokesperson and 2 minutes for other speakers. Some MEPs are allotted only 60-90 seconds by their political groups, but this is not the majority.
Detailed discussion takes place at committee stage, where there are no constraints on how long an MEP can speak, or how often he/she can take the floor.
In the 2005 debate on the proposed European Constitution, a total of 119 MEPs spoke in the debate for periods ranging from 1-7 minutes.
Filibustering is not possible in the European Parliament, unlike in the House of Commons. The strict allocation of speaking time is necessary because of the working hours of the European Parliament and of its interpreters - debates never go beyond midnight.
- 'They spend an hour and a half casting 300 votes on subjects they know nothing about' (Western Mail Business columnist - June 2003)
- 'They merely rubber-stamp 'vote'…sometimes at the rate of 180 per hour' (Letter to Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph, September 2005)
Electronic voting in the European Parliament certainly means that votes can be taken at a faster rate than in the House of Commons, where MPs have to file through the 'Aye' or 'No' lobbies.
Votes are usually by show of hands, and electronic voting takes place where a show of hands leaves the result uncertain or where Members request a roll-call of who voted for or against a specific clause.
The European Parliament votes proposals on a clause by clause basis - as hundreds of amendments are sometimes tabled, this process can be extremely time-consuming. Therefore, where an amendment or paragraph received 90% or greater support at committee stage, such amendments are usually voted en bloc in the full Parliament. This may go some way towards explaining the apparent speed of voting quoted. It is always possible, however, for a group of MEPs to request that a specific clause be voted separately.
The party 'whip' systems in the European Parliament and the House of Commons are very similar. MEPs are urged to follow their party and/or group line in any vote and will tend to follow the indications of their party spokesperson (or rapporteur/shadow rapporteur) in the course of a vote. Staff of the political groups go to great pains to provide Members of their groups with detailed voting lists showing which way the group has decided to vote on every amendment. There is far more likelihood of Members not knowing what they are voting about in the House of Commons, where some divisions involve one vote on several pieces of legislation at a time! |