Dibattiti

L-Erbgħa, 24 ta' Novembru 2010 - Strasburgu

8. Ħin tal-votazzjonijiet

  President. − First of all, following an incident this morning in the Chamber, Mr Schulz wishes to make a personal statement.

  Martin Schulz (S&D). - Herr Präsident! Es hat während der Aussprache zum Europäischen Rat heute Morgen hier einen Vorfall gegeben, auf den ich selbst nicht mehr eingehen will, weil ich das Ziel einer Beleidigung war. Ich will aber sagen: Es gibt Niveaus, auf denen ich nicht beleidigt werden kann und wo ich das auch nicht als Beleidigung empfinde, denn um mich zu beleidigen, muss man einen bestimmten Grad an Ernsthaftigkeit haben. Ich will mich allerdings herzlich bedanken für die unzähligen Zeichen von Solidarität, die ich seitdem in diesem Haus bekommen habe. Ich möchte mich herzlich bei Ihnen, liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen aus allen Fraktionen, bedanken. Das ist ein Zeichen unserer gemeinschaftlichen, demokratischen und pro-europäischen Überzeugung, die die überwältigende Mehrheit dieses Hauses teilt. Dafür meinen herzlichen Dank!

(Anhaltender Beifall)

  President. − The incident referred to was a protest by Mr Bloom, in which he addressed wartime allusions to Mr Schulz. The President said this was unacceptable and invited Mr Bloom to apologise. Mr Bloom did not apologise then. I call on him now to do so. If he does not do so, he must leave the Chamber.

(Loud applause)

  Godfrey Bloom (EFD). - Mr President, yet again there is one rule for Herr Schulz and one rule for everybody else. This is a disgrace. I have been elected – re-elected –to vote in this Chamber by the people of Yorkshire (your own constituency, I might add), with a democratic mandate which you yourself do not enjoy, Mr President, because you switched parties and they voted for the Conservatives. I have no intention of apologising, I have no intention of leaving this Chamber: you must have me escorted out, Sir!

  President. − Mr Bloom, first of all I was expelled by the Conservative Party for making a stand on a point of principle closely related to the issues you raised this morning.

(Applause)

Secondly, you have not apologised for language which was wholly inappropriate to the European Parliament, and I ask you to leave.

(Loud applause, and also shouts of ‘Point of order’ and ‘You are wrong’)

Mr Bloom, I am sorry but I am not taking any points of order on this.

I have a proposal to make. I can ask the security services to remove Mr Bloom, but I intend to put it to the vote. Is it the wish of the House that Mr Bloom should leave? Those in favour please raise your hands.

(Loud protests and cries of ‘No!’ from the EFD)

Those who wish Mr Bloom to stay please raise your hands. Those abstaining.

(Further loud protests from the EFD and replies of ‘Be quiet!’ Further prolonged noise and whistles)

I will accept one statement from Mr Farage, the leader of this Group.

  Nigel Farage (EFD). - Mr President, the reason for the anger and the noise is because we are not actually applying the rules of this place evenly. Mr Schulz has repeatedly thrown insults not just at me, but at many Members of this House: he said that the Eurosceptics and the no-voters open the door to fascism. We have had Danny Cohn-Bendit calling us mentally ill.

Mr President, if the rules are that something is deemed to be an insult and a Member is asked to leave, that is fair enough. But the anger – and I share that anger – is because these rules are not applied evenly. Mr Schulz regularly calls other people fascists, and when he is called one, the Member in question is asked to leave. That is not right. That is not fair.

  President. − Mr Farage, I do not want to prolong this, but can I just make the observation that this is incorrect. Mr Bloom’s two interventions – one from the floor and one from his place – were both heard by many people and were both unacceptable in parliamentary terms. The House wants Mr Bloom to leave. That is its expression. If he does not do so, people will infer from that his attitude towards the democratic process.

Mr Bloom, I am going to invoke Rule 152. If you will not leave, I will have you removed. I have discussed this with the President, and I have his support for this.

(Interjection from Mr Bloom: ‘Do your damnedest!’)

  Joseph Daul (PPE). - Monsieur le Président, si vous le permettez, ce que j'ai dit ce matin, c'est que la manière dont s'est comporté M. Bloom est inadmissible.

Deuxièmement, nous sommes dans un parlement démocratique. Nous avons décidé démocratiquement, Monsieur Bloom, que vous quittiez ce Parlement. À votre honneur, je vous demande, au nom de la démocratie et de ce que représente ce Parlement, de quitter aujourd'hui ce Parlement. Je vous le demande par respect du droit démocratique.

Monsieur Gollnisch, vous n'avez pas besoin de m'interpeller. On connaît vos méthodes. Elles sont inacceptables, antidémocratiques. C'est tout ce que j'ai à vous dire.

(Applaudissements)

  President. − Under Rule 152(4) I regret that this incident is obstructing the good business of the House. I therefore intend to suspend the sitting for five minutes.

(The sitting was suspended for five minutes)

  President. − Point of order? (inaudible off-microphone comments and shouts of ‘Point of order!).

  Christian Ehler (PPE). - Mr President, as the Chair of the Delegation for Relations with the Korean Peninsula I ask the plenary to strongly condemn yesterday’s artillery attack by the DPRK on a south Korean island.

(Applause)

There have been severe casualties among the South Korean military and especially among the civilian population of that island. Villages were burning and the population had to be evacuated.

We welcome the announcement by the ROK President Lee Myung-bak that despite this violent act he intends to avoid escalation on the Korean island.

We welcome that Baroness Ashton, the High Representative, has acted in a concerned manner with other international actors, our allies and our strategic partner, the Republic of Korea, in condemning this clear violation of the UN Korean Armistice Agreement. We also expect China to clearly condemn this act.

We call upon the DPRK to avoid any further escalation and to undertake all necessary efforts to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. We would like to convey our condolences to the families of the victims.

(Applause)

  President. − Thank you Mr Ehler. Now just a minute please. Just quieten down please. At the risk of being described myself as a fascist dictator I have taken certain actions this morning. But Mr Schulz has suggested I take one speaker from those who opposed Mr Bloom’s removal from the Chamber. The first person to ask for the floor this morning was Mr Madlener. I have said to Mr Madlener that if he takes the floor I will repeat the remarks that Mr Bloom made directly to Mr Schulz. Mr Madlener you have the floor.

  Barry Madlener (NI). - Voorzitter, dank u wel dat ik mijn punt van orde alsnog mag maken, want waar het hier om gaat is dat de regels natuurlijk consequent voor iedereen gelijk worden uitgevoerd. Ik wil wijzen op de inconsistentie van het voorzitterschap: u heeft zojuist meneer Bloom weggestuurd wegens zijn opmerkingen aan meneer Schulz, terwijl meneer Schulz mijn collega Daniël van der Stoep hier in deze zaal voor fascist heeft uitgemaakt en het voorzitterschap daar niets aan heeft gedaan. Er is nog niet eens een excuus van de heer Schultz gekomen, dus het zou de heer Schulz sieren als hij nu ook de zaal zou verlaten net als collega Bloom.

  President. − Now – thank you. As I said, by agreement with Mr Schulz and Mr Madlener, I will now repeat the remarks made very audibly by Mr Bloom which were directed at Mr Schulz this morning and to which the President objected, and I object, and most of the House objects, when asked.

Mr Bloom said to Mr Schulz: ‘Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer’. Those are unacceptable terms to use, by one Member to another. They go far beyond what we would regard as acceptable in this House. That is an end to the matter. We will deal with it through the Bureau. Now I want to move to the vote, because I want to finish by 13.00.

  Bruno Gollnisch (NI). - Monsieur le Président, je serai très bref. Je parlerai de l'article 2.

  President. − No, sorry. Please do not give the microphone to Mr Gollnisch. I have said to Mr Gollnisch that he can have the floor the next time the President is in the Chair. Thank you very much. Mr Salatto has asked for the floor.

  Potito Salatto (PPE). - Signor Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, al di fuori di questa questione volevo porre un problema alla Presidenza.

Io ritengo che qualcuno non abbia ancora capito fino in fondo qual è il ruolo del Parlamento europeo dopo il trattato di Lisbona. Sono costretto a porre qui un problema di fondo: il Commissario ai trasporti Kallas si rifiuta ripetutamente di incontrare il board di "Sky & Space" per discutere il progetto CESAR, che interessa tutti dal punto di vista economico, dell'ambiente e della sicurezza. Invito la Presidenza a convocare il Commissario Kallas in Aula per spiegare qual è il programma che intende portare avanti su questo settore che è delicatissimo e importante per il Parlamento europeo.

  President. − The next item is the vote.

(For the results and other details on the vote: see Minutes)