Today in the European Parliament the moderators of the session decided to pick the pettiest of fights with British MEPs. First they took issue with disillusioned Green MEP Magid Magid for wearing a hat, then they had a go at Scottish Brexit Party MEP Louis Stedman-Bryce for using the word “rubbish”. Seriously…
Neither of them were prepared to take it lying down, Magid laid into them and even had the Brexit Party MEPs applauding in support, before Stedman-Bryce pointed out the blatant hypocrisy of proscribing “rubbish” when the Lib Dems swanned around with “bollocks to Brexit” plastered all over themselves. Naturally they just cut his microphone off, EU democracy in action…
German satirist and slam poet turned MEP Nico Semsrott interrupted the EU Parliament’s session this morning to argue that MEPs should have to wear the logos of the companies that donate to them. He was wearing a prototype for what it could look like, naturally the EU honchos weren’t impressed…
Semsrott was elected to the European Parliament in June, after his satirical party ‘Die PARTEI’ received 2.4% of the vote. Should have been more.
In his first speech in the new Parliament, Nigel Farage hit out against EU Commission nominee Ursula von der Leyen before MEPs vote to confirm her in post. Which they will because the whole thing was stitched up beforehand…
“She wants the European Union to take control of every single aspect of our lives. She wants to build a centralised undemocratic updated form of communism… where the state controls everything, where nation state parliaments will cease to have any relevance at all.”
Punchy.
They say you should never meet your heroes, new Green Party MEP Magid Magid appears to be having exactly this experience in Brussels after discovering that the EU that he was passionately in favour of just a few weeks ago is actually a bureaucratic hellhole dominated by stale old white men stitching everything up behind closed doors. Brexiteers did try to warn him…
Magid even suffered the indignity of being asked to leave the Strasbourg Parliament by someone who assumed he wasn’t meant to be there because of the colour of his skin – the UK remains the only country to send ethnically diverse MEPs to the European Parliament in any significant numbers. He’s written a refreshingly honest account of what he actually found in Strasbourg and Brussels:
“Next to nobody in Brussels has any clue what the European Union truly stands for — beyond a flag and an anthem — and more crucially, where it is heading. And that includes the EU leaders and senior officials soullessly waddling through the corridors of power. When I arrived in the EU capital, I expected to find it brimming with activity and potential answers to these questions. Instead, I felt duped: Making a tangible impact on constituents’ lives is apparently not what being an MEP is all about.”
“In Brussels in particular, we need more transparency in the way we make decisions. Our institutions are plagued with convoluted customs, hidden handshakes and backdoor bargaining. I’ve seen it first hand already. How can we reject the accusations leveled against the European elite that we are out of touch, when the top dogs in our Parliament and Commission are chosen through obscure quid-pro-quo arrangements agreed over Champagne and truffles in Brussels’ finest hotel lobbies?”
“In Brussels, the go-to answer to a failed system is superficial; try a fresh coat of paint on crumbling walls. We have to be ready to burn down the house if necessary, to rebuild it in such a way that every citizen from Mansfield to Milan truly feels part of and represented by the EU.”
Looks like the Brexit Party could make it up to 30 MEPs before their term in the Parliament is done…
Staffers who were working for Nigel Farage’s transnational EFDD European Parliamentary group are now on redundancy pay until November 2nd after the Brexit Party leader failed to form a new group with his old partners in the Italian Five Star Movement. Having no group means Farage loses money and even more crucially speaking time, and his front row seat, meaning we won’t be seeing a typical barnstorming EU election victory speech any time soon. It will also leave the new set of Brexit MEP’s with no support, guidance or clue as to the workings of the Parliament…
Going forward Guido hears that some staffers will be offered Accredited Parliamentary Assistant contracts to keep them in the Parliament, however these contracts will be less than what they earn now in monthly redundancy pay. Who would take less money for the same length contract and more work..?
The Brexit Party has struggled to find allies in the new parliament after the centre-right collapsed in favour of Le Pen-aligned parties that Farage refuses to work with. Farage’s old EFDD allies the Five Star Movement don’t want to form a group that would collapse following the UK leaving in October. If an extension were to happen, as many in Brussels expect, there will be a much better chance of Nigel pulling a group together – which he can at any time. Maybe it #HasToBeHunt and his ‘short’ extension for the EFDD to make a comeback…
