The Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) opposed the exclusion of the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group (the so-called Cordon Sanitare) in the allocation of the president and vice-president positions in the newly created committees of the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament from the Slovenian Democratic Party also supported all the candidates of the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR).
This week, the European Parliament held its inaugural committee meetings. In the 20 committees and 4 subcommittees, the European People Party (EPP) now has 8 Presidents and 33 Vice-Presidents.
MEP Romana Tomc warned of blatant discrimination against Patriots for Europe at the meeting
The number of committee chairs should reflect the strength of each group in the European Parliament. But unfortunately, the third largest group, Patriots for Europe, has been excluded from this democratic process. “Cordon Sanitare has also been informally supported by the European People’s Party, which we in the Slovenian Democratic Party oppose. This was also pointed out by the EPP Vice-President, Romana Tomc, at the Presidency meeting,” the press release reports.
The left-wing political groups also strongly opposed the allocation of seats to the candidates of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. “The EPP supported all the ECR candidates. This shows a rightward shift in the EPP policy, as there has been no cooperation between the EPP and the ECR so far.”
All Patriots for Europe candidates were also supported in the votes in the committees where SDS MEPs are members, and the positions were put to the vote, the party with the largest number of Slovenian MEPs in the European Parliament said.
C. Š.
