The Day After – 02 February 2012 – European Parliament, Brussels.
Nirj Deva MEP (ECR) questions the impartiality of President Schulz and points to the rules of procedure which Mr Schulz had breached the day before in his confrontation with UKIP Leader Nigel Farage MEP
See: EU parliament president under fire over ‘breach’ of rules of procedure
Parliament’s newly-elected president Martin Schulz has been branded “unfit” for the prestige post after allegedly breaking parliamentary rules of procedure.
The attack comes after Schulz reacted to a speech in a parliamentary debate by UKIP leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday.
In the debate about the outcome of Monday’s EU summit, Farage accused Schulz of “allowing himself” to make a comment on the content of his speech.
Farage said, “To my understanding, the president cannot use his position to take a political advantage during a debate over a speaker who is not allowed to answer.”
The British deputy cited a parliamentary rule of procedure, which states, “The president may speak in a debate only to sum up or to call speakers to order. Should he wish to take part in a debate, he shall vacate the chair and shall not reoccupy it until the debate is over.”
In a letter to Schulz, Farage said, “It looks as if you as president have broken parliament’s rules of procedure.”
Farage says that when he protested against this “unfair” intervention, the German MEP’s “only answer was to threaten me with removal from the chamber by the ushers”.
“I would ask you, as the guardian of the codes of conduct, whether you believe your action was worthy of the position you hold.”
Later, Farage was even more damning of Schulz, accusing him of a “bullying, aggressive” approach.
Farage, who plans to raise the issue in a meeting of political group leaders, told this website, “The president should be strictly neutral but I am afraid he is showing his bias less than two weeks into his presidency of parliament. Based on this incident he has shown himself to be incapable of fulfilling his duties. Basically, he is unsuitable for the job.”
Read further:
http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/eu-parliament-pr…
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