US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4055

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 004055 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/RPM, INR/B 
PASS USAID FOR PPC/DCO 
 
E.O.: 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, PREL, SOCI, EAID, SU, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT:  EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:  THE DEVELOPMENT 
COMMITTEE'S NEW LEADERSHIP 
 
REFS: A) BRUSSELS 3320; B) BRUSSELS 4016 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED-PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Development Committee in the 
European Parliament (EP) is responsible for EU 
development assistance policy (over which the EP and 
the Council share legislative power).  Its new 
chairperson is Italian Communist EP Deputy (MEP) 
Luisa Morgantini.  We do not expect its customary 
push for increased development assistance funding 
nor its traditionally left-wing orientation to 
change significantly. The committee speaks out on a 
wide range of political issues from Palestine to 
Sudan. END SUMMARY. 
 
ROLE AND COMPETENCES 
-------------------- 
 
2. (U) The Development Committee is responsible for 
the promotion, implementation and monitoring of the 
development policy of the EU, including political 
dialogue and cooperation agreements with developing 
countries; the promotion of democratic values, good 
governance and human rights; matters relating to the 
ACP-EU Partnership Agreement with former EU colonies 
in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region; and 
the EP's involvement in election observation 
missions. It also speaks out on political affairs 
and following a recent visit by the development 
committee to Sudan, the EP became the first 
Parliament in the EU to support the USG finding on 
genocide in Darfur (ref B). 
 
3. (U) The Development Committee enjoys full 
legislative responsibilities together with member- 
state development ministers (meeting in the Council) 
for all European development legislation on issues 
under the control of the European Community budgets. 
The committee has paid close attention to 
reproductive health policies and combating HIV/AIDS. 
 
WHO'S WHO IN THE NEW COMMITTEE 
------------------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) The principal committee officers are: 
 
-- Luisa Morgantini (Italy, GUE/NGL), Chairwoman: A 
social worker, Morgantini, 63, started her political 
career in the Italian Communist Party in the 
sixties.  She worked in trade unions in the eighties 
and nineties while starting her involvement in the 
peace movements including the founding of the 
Italian branch of the "women in black" anti-war 
organization.  Elected MEP in 1999, she was the 
chairwoman of the EP delegation for relations with 
Palestine until 2004.  She has been a persistent 
opponent of Israeli policy, allegedly once calling 
Ariel Sharon a war criminal.  She told us that she 
believes that U.S. policies are at the root of the 
suffering of the Palestinians.  In the Development 
Committee, she has opposed the Mexico City policy 
and other U.S. pro-life stances, such as the USG 
suspension of funds for UNFPA.  However, British 
conservative MEP Nirj Deva told us recently that it 
was proving easier to work with her than he had 
expected. 
 
-- Max van den Berg (The Netherlands, Party of 
European Socialists--PES), Vice-Chairman: A 
sociologist and faculty member at Groningen 
University, van den Berg, 58, has had a long career 
in development as the head of Novib (Oxfam 
Netherlands) from 1986 until his election to the EP 
in 1999.  A Vice President of the Development 
Committee in the last term, he was also a member of 
the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. 
 
-- Michael Gahler (Germany, European Peoples 
Party/European Democrats-EPP/ED), Second Vice- 
Chairman: A lawyer and member of the German 
Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Michael Gahler, 
44, is new to the Development Committee.  An MEP 
since 1999, he has been a member of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee where he was responsible for the 
report on Estonia's EU accession. 
 
-- Danut Budreikait (Lithuania, Alliance of 
f 
Liberals and Democrats for Europe--ALDE), third 
Vice-Chairwoman: a newcomer in the EP, Budreikait, 
51, worked as an economist at the Lithuanian Central 
Bank where she specialized in Lithuania's economic 
integration into the EU single market.  She also was 
a member of the Lithuanian Science Academy. 
 
-- Nirj Deva (UK, EPP-ED), EPP-ED coordinator:  A UK 
citizen born in Sri Lanka, Deva, 56, after degrees 
in aeronautical and mechanical engineering, became a 
manager and businessman.  Elected MEP in 1999, he 
has been an active member of the Development 
Committee and became in 2000 the rapporteur on the 
WTO and development. He has been a close contact of 
USEU since the previous parliamentary term. Unlike 
most other MEPs, Deva has been supportive of U.S. 
population policies. 
 
-- Maria Martens (Netherlands, EPP-ED), second EPP- 
ED coordinator: with a degree in theology and 
marketing, Martens, 49, worked in the eighties and 
nineties in the Association of Catholic 
Organizations.  She was also the chairwoman of the 
Dutch Episcopal committee in 2000 and is a member of 
the board of governors of the Utrecht University of 
Catholic Theology. 
 
-- Miguel Martinez Martinez (Spain, PES), PES 
coordinator:  An MEP since 1999, Martinez, 64, was 
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the 
Council of Europe and Vice-President of the WEU 
Assembly earlier in the nineties.  A doctor from the 
Moscow State Institute for International Relations, 
he was also the President of the North-South Center 
of the Council of Europe until 2002.  As an MEP, he 
was Vice President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary 
Assembly in 2002-2004. 
 
-- Thierry Cornillet (France, ALDE), ALDE 
coordinator:  Cornillet, 53, was elected MEP in 
1999.  He holds a doctorate in political science and 
has done postgraduate studies in environmental law. 
He was an active member of the Citizens' Rights 
Committee in the previous parliamentary term, 
specializing in human rights - Cornillet was 
rapporteur on human rights in the EU in 2000. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
5. (SBU) The development committee in the European 
Parliament will remain a "leftist" committee.  The 
new committee will keep a communist chairman with 
Luisa Morgantini, whom we expect to be more vocal 
and activist than the previous, low profile 
communist chairman, Joaquim Miranda. For the rest, 
the committee has undergone a nearly complete 
renewal with many high-profile MEPs from the 
previous term not reelected or not assigned to the 
development committee.  Most of the new MEPs are not 
very high-level politicians.  In the past, the 
committee has pushed consistently for increased 
spending on development assistance and generally 
advised the EP to grant additional emergency funds 
when requested by the Commission.  We expect this to 
continue, as political groups are behind these 
decisions and the EP's general political balance 
has not been greatly modified by the latest 
elections. END COMMENT. 
 
 (DRAFTED:POL:MVANAVERBEKE) 
MCKINLEY