A move by the Independent Connacht-Ulster MEP, Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon, which appeared to be intended to cut funding to a respected European women's lobby, has been backed by calls to British Conservative MEPs by anti-abortion lobbyists, The Irish Times has learned.
The move by Ms Scallon, which caught her political group, the EPP, by surprise, will not result in any funding cut, but has angered women activists. It has been denounced by the president of the Brussels-based European Women's Lobby (EWL), Ms Denise Fuchs, who said Ms Scallon had not made any contact with it before putting down the amendment to the EU budget.
The EWL acts as a forum for women's groups throughout the EU, political and non-political, representing them to the Commission and organising conferences. The EWL has not taken a position on abortion, and Ms Scallon insists her move had nothing to do with the issue.
Its annual €600,000 grant from the union is up for review with the rest of the EU budget, but Ms Scallon proposed a motion which would have distributed the cash among up to 3,000 other women's organisations.
In an email to MEPs urging support for the amendment, Ms Scallon claimed her purpose was not to stop the EWL from continuing its work, "it would simply end the monopoly which the EWL has on the women's budget line."
Ms Scallon acted in response to an appeal from an organisation called the World Movement of Mothers, which said in a letter to her that groups affiliated to it are not linked ideologically to the EWL and could therefore not access funding.
Her premise was disputed by Ms Maj-Britt Theorin MEP on behalf of the Committee on Women's Rights, who strongly urged against support for the Scallon amendment. "Contrary to Mrs Scallon's email," she says, "there are at least two other budget lines where women's organisations can get European funding."
Ms Mary Banotti MEP (Dublin, Fine Gael) and a member of Ms Scallon's political group, said "this amendment appeared out of the blue and was not discussed with any of us. Its effect was not noticed at the time." Ms Banotti said at least three British Conservative MEPs had told her they had received lobbying calls against the EWL, accusing it of being left wing and pro-abortion.
