MEPs demand censure of the Commission
A group of 76 MEPs have decided to call for a censure of the European Commission because no responsibility has yet been placed for the Eurostat affair.
The Eurostat scandal saw millions of euro channelled into unofficial bank accounts, but until now no Commissioner has taken responsibility for the wrongdoing.
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"We don't talk about the guilt, we talk about political responsibility. To censure the European Commission is the only tool we have", Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde told a news conference in Strasbourg.
The motion signed by 76 MEPs will formally be handed to the president of the European Parliament Pat Cox tomorrow, (1 April), at noon.
"With this motion we want to show that not the whole of the European Parliament gives discharge to the European Commission which it doesn't deserve", Gabriele Stauner, a German EPP-ED MEP told the EUobserver.
A call for censure of the European Commission must be signed by 63 members to be valid (a minimum of 10 percent of the parliament).
The Commission will fall if a two-thirds majority of votes and an absolute majority of members - currently 314 of 626 - supports the motion. A roll-call vote is likely to take place on 21 April, when the Parliament meets for the last time ahead of the June European elections.
The initiative is supported by MEPs from across the political spectrum, within the framework of the Friends of Clean Accounts initiative, working together on transparency in the EU.
