Verbatim report of proceedings

Thursday, 16 January 2020 - Strasbourg

5. Resumption of the sitting

(The sitting resumed at 12.07)

  Marco Zanni (ID). – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, per quanto concerne l'articolo 196, lunedì scorso il Presidente ha ordinato ai commessi di rimuovere le piccole bandiere che i rappresentanti del mio gruppo avevano sul loro tavolo. Ritengo questa decisione contraria alle regole.

Sappiamo che il Presidente del Parlamento ha deciso di imporre un divieto sui banner per evitare le proteste con cartelli che venivano fatte in Aula e per mantenere l'ordine.

Ci risulta abbastanza ambiguo il fatto che si proibisca l'esposizione di piccoli simboli delle nostre bandiere nazionali, quindi vorrei capire secondo quale regola queste bandiere sono state rimosse e ribadire che il mio gruppo orgogliosamente continuerà a portare queste bandiere in Aula.

  President. – It is referring to Article 10 [of the rules of procedure]. I will switch to German because I only have the German version.

   „Die Mitglieder stören die Ordnung im Plenarsaal nicht und sehen von unangemessenem Verhalten ab. Sie stellen keine Transparente aus.“ Der Präsident hat die Fahnen als Transparente ausgelegt. Wir werden das sicherlich in der nächsten Sitzung besprechen. Aber für den Moment möchte ich Sie bitten, diese Anordnung des Präsidenten, solange sie wirksam ist, auch zu beachten.

  Marco Zanni (ID). – Non sono striscioni e non sono simboli che disturbano l'ordine della plenaria, quindi quell'articolo del regolamento non può essere applicato a questi simboli.

  Die Präsidentin. – Sehr geehrter Herr Abgeordneter Zanni! Es findet jetzt hier keine Diskussion über Anordnungen des Präsidenten statt. Wenn Sie sich gegen die Anordnung des Präsidenten wenden möchten, dann können Sie das tun, darüber wird dann auch entschieden. Aber so lange bitte ich Sie auch, sie zu beachten.

  Brian Monteith (NI). – (Off-mic)

  President. – Another point of order but I will only take it when everyone has followed the order of the President. As long as that is not the case, we will not continue the discussion.

(Generalised applause)

(Chant from certain quarters ‘Let him speak’)

Sorry, colleagues, but it is you who are not letting him speak because you are not following the order of the President. Just do so and we will let him speak. There is no problem.

There is another point of order from Ms Strugariu.

  Ramona Strugariu (Renew). – Madam President, let me point out to my colleagues that, if they read properly the rules of this House they will see that we can’t even have a glass of water on the table, but we can decently put it under the table so, colleagues, you can just take them and put them under the table and they are there with you to represent you.

(Loud applause)

(Interjection from the floor: ‘My flag is not a glass of water.’)

(Loud applause from certain quarters)

  Richard Corbett (S&D). – Madam President, the Rules of Procedure contain the words that ‘Members shall not display banners’, so it all hinges on the definition of what is a banner. Is a flag a banner? I’ve just looked up the definition of a banner on Wikipedia, and it says: ‘A banner can be a flag or other piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or other message’. So the President would appear to be within his rights to ask for these flags to be removed. I am not saying it is a wise decision but it is a legal decision.

  President. – I have time. I have a lot of time. Now, the point is not what is a banner and what is not a banner: the point is that if the President of this House comes to a decision, then this decision is to be obeyed as long as it is not taken back. It is as easy as that. Keep calm, keep calm, it is Thursday and everybody wants to go home, I understand that completely. I will now start with the vote.