Oldest Member (European Parliament)

The Oldest Member is the eldest Member of European Parliament at the beginning of a new legislature and at the mid-term election of a new President of the European Parliament. Until 2009 the Oldest Member presided over the chamber during the election of the President, similar to the Father of the House. This privilege was abolished in 2009.

Oldest members
Name Party State Date Age
Louise Weiss EPP France 1979 86
1982 89
Jacqueline Thome-Patenôtre[1] EDA France 1984 78
Nikolaos Gazis SOC Greece 1987 83
Claude Autant-Lara DR France 1989 88
Bruno Visentini LDR Italy 1992 77
Vassilis Ephremidis GUE/NGL Greece 1994 79
Otto von Habsburg EPP Germany 1997 85
Giorgio Napolitano PES Italy 1999 74
2002 77
Giovanni Berlinguer[2] PES Italy 2004 80
2007 83
Ciriaco de Mita EPP Italy 2009 81
2012 83
Manolis Glezos GUE/NGL Greece 2014 91
Jean-Marie Le Pen NI France 2015 87
Silvio Berlusconi EPP Italy 2019 83

1979–1987

From the European Parliament's first session on, the parliament's Rules of Procedure gave the oldest member the privilege to chair proceedings until a new President was elected. In the meantime, however, no other business was to be transacted unless concerned with the election.[3]

This provision gave room for an opening speech from the oldest member, before the chair was taken by the newly elected president. In 1979, the first oldest member of the European Parliament, Louise Weiss, gave a one-hour-speech and received both standing ovations and a warm public reception. The same held true for her immediate successors Jacqueline Thome-Patenôtre and Nikolaos Gazis.[4]

1989 controversy

After the 1989 European Parliament election, it turned out that the 87-year-old far-right politician Claude Autant-Lara of the French National Front would be the oldest member and therefore entitled to give the opening speech.

In front of a nearly empty house, Autant-Lara gave the longest opening speech ever, spreading fear of American "cultural invaders" he said would colonise and endanger European culture more than the Soviet Union. In a final appeal, he asked the youth to turn down a Coke for a glass of Alsacian wine only once. The speech was widely criticised as meandering and mostly absurd, but also nationalist, anti-American and even antisemitic.[5]

During the speech, the Socialists placed 180 red roses in front of their seats while staying outside of the plenary room. Some leftists stayed inside holding up "Never again fascism!" placards. Other legislators listened to the first few minutes of the opening speech but then left the room.

1992–2007

Apart from being criticised in content, Autant-Lara's opening speech largely overstretched the already wide tolerance of deviation from the intent of the institution of the Oldest Member. In 1992, Italian MEP Bruno Visentini refrained from giving a speech, while in 1994 Greek MEP Vassilis Ephremidis spoke some reconciliatory words.[6]

2009 controversy and abolition of privilege

It was feared that, after the 2009 elections, Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right MEP from France who had been convicted for Holocaust denial in his home country, might be the oldest member, aged 81.[7] In response to this concern, the Parliament's rules were changed (Corbett report) so that the outgoing President (if re-elected as an MEP) or one of the outgoing Vice-Presidents would chair the first session of Parliament until a new President was elected. Green co-head Daniel Cohn-Bendit wanted to change the rules so that the youngest member would chair the session, to reflect the future. In the event, after the election, former Italian Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita was in fact the oldest member, rather than Le Pen.

References
  1. The oldest member was Nikolaos Gazis (Socialist, Greece) but he was in hospital and unable to attend the session.
  2. "MINUTES: PROCEEDINGS OF THE SITTING" (PDF). European Parliament. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
  3. "Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament. Rule 11: Oldest member". European Parliament. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  4. Brunner, Benedikt (2012). Der Alterspräsident: Ein Konstituierungsreglement und seine Alternativen (in German). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 136 f. ISBN 978-3-531-18647-4.
  5. Brunner, Benedikt (2012). Der Alterspräsident: Ein Konstituierungsreglement und seine Alternativen (in German). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. pp. 138–145. ISBN 978-3-531-18647-4.
  6. Brunner, Benedikt (2012). Der Alterspräsident: Ein Konstituierungsreglement und seine Alternativen (in German). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 145 f. ISBN 978-3-531-18647-4.
  7. Traynor, Ian (26 March 2009). "MEPs move to deny extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen platform". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
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