EU rebels’ fury at federal Brussels: Visegrad Four blast post-Brexit EU ’unity project’

The four nations, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, have raised concerns over Brussels plans to bring in a transnational MEP voting post-Brexit which the rebels claim will wrestle more control from member states.

“Democratic legitimacy of the EU legislative process” can only be boosted through “the democratic control by national parliaments”, the group said in a statement.

The transnational proposal, backed by Emanuel Macron, would see Britain’s 73 MEP seats filled by a pan-European list of candidates. 

French MEPs claim it would “increase the visibility of trans-European parties in public opinion and stimulate the campaign”. 

In a letter released backing the proposals the MEPs said: “At a time when the UK is leaving the union, such a reform will also send a message of unity and confidence in the European project.”

Earlier this month the French president issued a joint statement with his counterparts in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain to say that transnational lists “could strengthen the democratic dimension of the Union”.

However, concerns were sparked as pan-European lists would increase the number of German MEPs at a time when EU’s biggest member state has already been accused of having too much sway over the bloc. 

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, also known as the Visegrad Four, have been against the idea from the start, and now have published a joint resolution against the plans.

They write: “We need to preserve and strengthen the unity of the Union, while respecting our common European values, the identities and specificities of Member States. 

“A strong Europe can only be composed of strong Member States, supported by effective EU institutions performing their tasks based on their competences as defined by the Treaties.”

They also state it is important to “narrow the distance between European citizens and Brussels-based institutions, and we are ready to engage in broad public discussions on our European future according to the national practices”.

These four nations are not alone int their opposition to the transnational list proposal.

Gunnar Hökmark, a Swedish MEP and member of the Constitutional Affairs Committee said: “These transnational lists are neither European nor democratic.

“They will further undermine the relationship between the electorate and the elected ones.”

MEP Kazimierz Ujazdowski, the constitutional affairs spokesman for the European Conservatives and Reformists group, has said: “This is a flagship idea of European federalists who naively assume it will increase accountability and participation in European elections when it will do the exact opposite.”

The full EU Parliament will vote on the proposal in early February, before submitting it to the European Council for approval.

The legal basis of transnational lists “comprising the entire territory of the Union” will need to be provided by a future council decision.

MEPs have said in the compromise amendment that those elected on transnational lists would only take up their seats after the UK has left the European Union.