The European Parliament will vote on the discharge of its 2012 budget tomorrow (Thursday, 3 April), including criticism of the politicisation of appointments to the EP's administration. Commenting ahead of the vote, Green budget control and transparency spokesperson Bart Staes stated:

"The politicisation of the European Parliament's administration by the two largest political groups is a long-standing problem. The recent move by Martin Schulz to facilitate the appointment of his aides to high-ranking posts in the Parliament's administration is the latest example. The budgetary control committee of the Parliament was correct to criticise this. We hope the Parliament as a whole will confirm this criticism tomorrow.

"The immediate consequence must be a freeze of these appointments, ensuring no new director or director general positions are filled until the next legislative term. The Bureau of the European Parliament must agree to this.

"Political nominations by the two largest groups have gotten out of hand and seriously affected the independence of the Parliament's administration at all levels. There is an urgent need to properly reform the process for recruiting positions in the administration. This means ensuring there are independent and open recruitment procedures, with standard recruitment criteria, taking into account qualifications and experience. While political nominations of candidates that meet such criteria to certain top posts may be justified, political affiliation alone cannot be the basis for appointments to such posts.

"The Greens/EFA group has already raised concerns about the potential conflict of interest arising from Martin Schulz continuing as president of the European Parliament, whilst conducting a political campaign as Socialist candidate for the presidency of the Commission. The use of European Parliament officials for this campaign, as indicated by the budgetary control committee, would be a clear confirmation that these concerns were justified. To this end, we would reiterate our call on Martin Schulz to step aside as president of the European Parliament."

Richard More O'Ferrall,

Press and media advisor, social media coordinator,

Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

Mobile: +32-477-443842

Ph. +32-22841669 (Brussels); +33-388174042 (Strasbourg)

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