The day Martin Schulz forgot to vote

Yesterday Martin Schulz, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament (EP), formally announced his candidacy for President of the EP. In turn, Joseph Daul, leader of the rival European People’s Party (EPP), said his group would give Schulz its backing, saying it was “respecting” a “technical” deal between the two groups concluded after the 2009 European elections. Respecting? Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Today, Martin Schulz forgot to vote. He voted on roll call vote nr. 30, and he voted on roll call vote nr. 32. But on vote nr. 31, sandwiched between the other two, his normally steady hand missed the electronic voting button.

At stake was paragraph 127 in the report by Mr. Garriga Polledo (EPP) on a new Multiannual Financial Framework, which reads as follows: “Points to the significant savings that could be made if the European Parliament were to have a single seat”.

In other words, the vote on paragraph 127 was a vote on whether MEPs should continue to meet in Strasbourg, as required by the EU Treaty, or whether the Parliament should have a single base in Brussels, saving hundreds of millions of euros as well as lots of time and misery.

The last important vote on this issue was in March this year, when MEPs voted to reduce from 12 to 11 the number of times they have to travel to the Alsatian capital every year. That vote, won by a big margin, was held by secret ballot – meaning that no-one could see how MEPs had voted. Closet Brussels-supporters among the official pro-Strasbourg camp were therefore free to follow their instincts.

This time, the vote was by roll call – meaning everyone would know how everyone else had voted. Despite this, and to general surprise, MEPs overwhelmingly backed a single seat, defeating an amendment to delete the relevant paragraph by 353 votes to 282, with 38 abstentions.

Take that, Paris! But even more interesting is what the detailed roll call results show:

• Of all the Parliament’s political group leaders, only Joseph Daul (EPP) voted against having a single seat.
• Several French MEPs voted to back a single seat, including Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Karima Delli, and Marie-Christine Vergiat.
• Pro-Strasbourg MEPs voted against having a single seat despite recent calls for a single seat (in Strasbourg!) by Strasbourg and the French Senate.
• Despite the wide margin of victory, several well-known EPP supporters of ‘Brussels’ still voted pro-Strasbourg. Because their group had failed to inform them of what was at stake?
• Over two-thirds of Martin Schulz’s S&D group backed a single seat.

But Martin Schulz himself did not vote. A long-time proponent of Strasbourg himself, has he perhaps concluded that with an important election looming, and the EP, including his own group, turning decisively against Strasbourg, it is wiser to keep a low profile? One can only wonder what Strasbourg-supporting Joseph Daul will make of it all.

(For a detailed breakdown of today’s vote, see VoteWatch.eu: http://votewatch.eu/cx_vote_details.php?id_act=1871&lang=en)