Sarah speaking about quorum rules in the European Parliament
Speech by Sarah Ludford delivered to European Parliament on Thu 10th Jul 2008
Mr President, I think the previous speakers have made valid points. I thought I understood Mr Leinen in reading out the Rules - and he will correct me if I am wrong - to imply that the Members should at least be here at the beginning of the sitting, even if they then leave. Any other interpretation surely would be entirely self-serving, because people who are absent can put in a demand to say that there is no quorum, but they have helped to ensure that there is no quorum! I cannot see how it could possibly be right to conclude that they can be entirely absent and say that the rest of us do not form a quorum.
The other fact is, frankly, habit on Thursday afternoons. We know there is never a quorum for the urgencies and, if is suddenly to be invoked now, that may be a problem with the Rules that we will have to sort out. If you are going to torpedo this afternoon's urgencies, you could torpedo every Thursday afternoon's urgencies.
My basic point is: how could it be possible to interpret the Rules to say that 40 absent people can say to the rest of us that we do not form a quorum and ensure that we do not make a quorum?
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