Will Selmayr and Juncker get away with it?
Meanwhile, in Strasbourg, the dust has settled on Monday’s extraordinary debate in the European Parliament. MEPs are on tour, having one of their expensive trips across the French border to use their totally unnecessary other building. It was there that they took on the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, although he did not turn up. Remarkable scenes ensued.
The debate featured some marvellous speeches from MEPs, so marvellous that it almost made me wish Britain was staying in the EU. Only kidding.
There was widespread criticism of the coup last month by which Martin Selmayr, the fanatical Europhile who is more Machiavellian than Machiavelli, recently became the top official in the EU. The appointment was sprung on EU Commissioners who went along with it like a flock of sheep. Juncker had moved Selmayr, his chief of staff, into the deputy Secretary-General post and then minutes later announced that the Secretary-General would retire instantly. There were no other candidates for this vital and powerful role. Selmayr was the man. This sudden elevation was announced to an incredulous Brussels press corps. This was a stitch-up of which they would be proud in the Kremlin. It was all over in under an hour, before you could say “but we only joined a common market…”.
Anger has been building about Juncker and Selmayr’s behaviour. The French journalist Jean Quatremer of Liberation has led the way, breaking new lines in the story. The Spectator carried a terrific piece by him last week.
MEPs were certainly fired up when they met in Strasbourg. Sophie in ‘t Veld is a liberal Dutch MEP. She laid into Selmayr and Juncker in the most splendid short speech, describing the scandal as devastating. “The appointment of Mr Selmayr was a grave error and it must be corrected,” she said.
Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium, backed her in robust terms. He is a federalist MEP (no-one is perfect) and I increasingly like him because he seems to admire Britain quite a bit, in his unique way, and sticks it to Juncker. He tweeted: “If the Juncker Commission is not careful, it will have the same fate as the Santer Commission.”
Santer is not to be confused with Santa Claus. Jacques Santer was President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999. Santer and the Commissioners (sounds like a bad band from Brussels) all resigned, on the same day as a report into incompetence and other strange goings on in the Commission was published.
Thank goodness nothing like that happens nowadays in Brussels. Everyone has moved on…
It would seem not. In the debate in the parliament this week, Verhofstadt got a bit “Eastenders” and told Juncker to sort… it… aht…
“Your former head of Cabinet yesterday has done something that nobody has done ever before here in this house: to unite the whole Parliament, the left and the right,” said Verhofstadt. “Its’a not a joke, you have to sort it out,” he added.
A stunned Günther Oettinger, HR head honcho, commissioner for human resources, urged MEPs to give Selmayr a chance.
“I don’t treat you like children. I have respect for you … Can we please be respectful of each other? I look forward to seeing the outcome of your investigation. This appointment was done within the letter and, I believe, the spirit of the rules laid down by European democratic bodies … Selmayr is not a monster, he is not a party man. Give him a chance, please give him a chance. Let him do his job under your eagle eye. Let’s not turn him into some kind of monster.”
This Selamayr scandal might be deemed somewhat embarrassing for ultra-Remainers here in the UK, still trying to persuade British voters that they are idiots for deciding to leave this supposedly wonderful organisation, the EU. By the way, voters are famous for responding well to being called idiots and fools by members of the House of Lords.
What happens next?
A European parliamentary inquiry has been launched into the Selmayr appointment, but it is difficult to see how the coup can be reversed. They probably get away with it.
Incidentally, Britain leaves the EU in March 2019.