Patriots for Europe lodge appeal against exclusion from European Parliament committee bureau

The Patriots for Europe Group in the European Parliament lodged an action before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Patriots asks the Court to annul the decisions taken in the committees of the European Parliament to exclude them from all posts of responsibility (chairs and vice-chairs) in the committees.

The Patriots are the third biggest group in the European Parliament, but contrary to much smaller groups have no vice-presidents nor Questors of the Parliament, and no chairs or vice-chairs of committees.

This application of the cordon sanitaire is in violation with several articles of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, notably Rule 34 (“At the beginning of each parliamentary term, the Conference of Presidents shall endeavour to agree procedures for reflecting the political diversity of Parliament in the committees and delegations, as well as in the decision-making bodies”) and Rule 219 (“The diversity of Parliament must be reflected in the composition of the bureau of each committee”).

The decision to automatically and systematically exclude Members of Parliament from any position of responsibility merely based on their political opinions and membership of the Patriots for Europe Group also violates several provisions of inter alia the Article 10 of the Treaty on European Union and the Article 21 of the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the EU.

The discriminatory nature of that decision violates the principle that all members of Parliament should be able to fully exercise the mandate they received from the voters.

The Patriots for Europe Group wants that the results of democratically held elections in the Member States be reflected in all governing bodies of the European Parliament without any discrimination. No more, no less.