UK MEP Anthea McIntyre has complained to Parliament’s press service about a video clip of a press conference by Eric Andrieu, a French Socialist deputy.
She said that during the briefing he launched “an attack against me which was very personal, damaging, inaccurate and entirely without foundation.”
McIntyre, who is a British Tory deputy, said it was alleged that she “did no committee work and did not attend meetings.”
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In a letter that she sent to Andrieu, seen by this website, she says, “These assertions are all false and you know them to be so.”
She asked Andrieu to withdraw the comments and issue a public apology.
As well as the letter of complaint to Andrieu – which has so far received no reply – McIntyre also raised the matter with Parliament’s press team.
In a letter to Jaume Duch Guillot, director-general of Parliament communications, she sets out the work she has done on the PEST committee.
“Although responsible publishers rightly declined to publish Mr Andrieu’s outburst, its damage is magnified and perpetuated by the fact that DG Comms has posted on the Parliament’s website a video of the full press conference, including the slanderous attack on my good name” Anthea McIntyre MEP
She said she had attended “all committee meetings apart from two where I had unavoidable clashes in my diary.”
In her letter to the head of the press service, she says, “I would be grateful if the relevant section could be removed from the video of the chairman’s outburst currently available on the Parliament’s website.”
“These comments were made during a press conference, not under the privilege of parliamentary debate, and I trust you would not want DG Comms to be complicit in the broadcasting of falsehoods which are plainly damaging to the standing and reputation of a member.”
NO INTERFERENCE IN CONTENT
However, the press head replied in a letter, dated 22 February, which states, “The responsibility of the DG for Communication is limited to the organisational aspects of the press conference and we do not interfere in the content of the deliberations.”
The letter went on to say, “Speakers at public press conferences in Parliament are free to express their views and the DG for Comms does not modify the recordings afterwards.”
After receiving the refusal to remove the video, McIntyre wrote to Klaus Welle, secretary general of Parliament, and the assembly’s President Antonio Tajani, asking them to intervene.
Her letter to the pair she says that both the DG Comms chief and Andrieu have “acted incorrectly with the results that my standing and good name have been unfairly damaged.”
“Speakers at public press conferences in Parliament are free to express their views and the DG for Comms does not modify the recordings afterwards” Jaume Duch Guillot, European Parliament Director-General for Communication
She asks them to intervene “as a matter of urgency.”
She adds, “Although responsible publishers rightly declined to publish Mr Andrieu’s outburst, its damage is magnified and perpetuated by the fact that DG Comms has posted on the Parliament’s website a video of the full press conference, including the slanderous attack on my good name.”
“My letter to Mr Andrieu has produced no response and my request to DG Comms to remove the defamatory part of the press conference from the website has been declined without adequate explanation.”
McIntyre told this site that, so far, she had received no response from Welle or Tajani.
‘DEEPLY OFFENDED’
A close colleague of McIntyre told The Parliament Magazine, “One website published the comments but in a way which did not identify Anthea as the target. No-one else did, except of course for the Parliament itself which has the full tirade still up on its website.
"Anthea was deeply offended by the attack. She worked extremely hard during the committee's evidence-gathering and deliberations - as she does all her parliamentary duties. She engaged with the committee process every step of the way.”
“It appears Mr Andrieu was angry that she happened to come to different conclusions - so he launched this personal assault on entirely false grounds. She has been advised that the words used and their continued publication on the Parliament's own website constitute a clear case of libel under UK law.”
Jaume Duch Guillot told this site, “My recollection is that Mrs McIntyre complained about Mr Andrieu. She asked the services to withdraw parts of Mr Andrieu's statement from the records but Parliament obviously cannot.”
Despite attempts to contact him, Andrieu was not available for comment.