Cox will be elected president of European Parliament

The Munster Independent MEP, Mr Pat Cox, is set to be elected Ireland's first president of the European Parliament.

Mr Cox's elevation to the prestigious presidency from the end of 2001 is the result of a groundbreaking agreement announced yesterday between his party and the European People's Party (EPP), the parliament's largest group, to which Fine Gael is affiliated.

The deal will see Liberals (ELDR) next week back the French EPP nomination for the presidency, Ms Nicole Fontaine, for the first half of the five-year term of the parliament in return for support for their newly reelected leader, Mr Cox, for the second half. Between them the two parties have 284 votes out of the required 313, with the balance certain to be made up by miscellaneous right-wing and centrist MEPs.

Their vote may be strengthened further by the expected support of the expanded Green-Autonomist group's 48 votes.

Meanwhile the post-election realignment of parties which has seen the ELDR grow to 50 members from 42, has left Fianna Fail's Union for Europe (UFE) sharply reduced from 34 to 21 and taking a sharp Eurosceptical veer to the right. The party yesterday confirmed that the UFE will now consist of only six Fianna Fail members, 13 Eurosceptical Gaullists led by Mr Charles Pasqua, two Portuguese, and one Dane from the anti-immigrant Danish People's Party. The secretary-general of the group will be Mr Frank Barrett, son of the former Fianna Fail minister and MEP Mr Sylvie Barrett.

The group could have been larger but for the fact, sources say, that Mr Pasqua vetoed any involvement with the ex-fascist Italian Alleanza Nazionale, and that overtures to France's six hunting-fishing MEPs were unsuccessful.

The loss by the group of the more moderate French RPR to the EPP and their replacement by the out-and-out Eurosceptics, led by Mr Pasqua, is reflected in a brief statement of objectives which emphasises the need to avoid "a federal Europe which would subject sovereign nations and take away the identity of European peoples".

A spokesman for Fianna Fail yesterday denied that the new alliance reflected a shift in Fianna Fail thinking.

Mr Cox described the agreement with the EPP, limited to the presidency, a joint approach to a new deal on the controversial issue of MEPs' salaries and conditions, and collaboration in appointments to committees, as an important "break with the cosy bipolar consensus" that has dominated the parliament.

The exclusion of the Socialists, the EPP's usual "cosy" partner in managing the business of MEPs, means that the former Portuguese president, Mr Mario Soares, will fail in his ambition to lead the parliament.

Mr Cox said that the deal with the EPP was recognition of the need for checks and balances between the institutions now that the Commission and Council of Ministers were dominated by the Socialists.

"We are contributing to some broad political equilibrium between the various political forces in the EU, even if institution by institution and case by case such balance cannot exist," the Munster MEP said. The new leader of the EPP, Mr Hans-Gerd Pottering, paid tribute to Mr Cox as an honourable and well-qualified candidate.

Apart from chairing sessions of the parliament and steering its business, the president is its public face, representing the assembly to governments and summits.

The 46-year-old Corkman started his career in academic life. He later joined RTE as a reporter and presenter before becoming the secretary-general of the Progressive Democrats after their launch in 1986.

Elected as an MEP in 1989 he has served in the parliament since then, apart from a spell in the Dail from November 1992 to July 1994. Having been closely associated with the leadership of the PDs as a negotiator in the formation of two governments Mr Cox resigned from the party in 1994 after Ms Mary Harney beat him in the leadership contest to succeed Mr Desmond O'Malley.

In the same year he was elected to the deputy leadership of the parliamentary group of the ELDR. Last year he went on to lead the group.

Mr Cox consolidated a growing political reputation as a parliamentary tactician in the debate of confidence on the Commission in January. It was enough to secure him unanimous re-election as group leader last week.