EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Wednesday changed the rules of the European Parliament to prevent far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen from opening the inaugural session of the next parliament in July.

The move was hastily pushed through parliament via an amendment to a report on the internal workings of the EU assembly after it recently became clear that the French politician, who has downplayed the Holocaust, could assume the prominent role.

The rules were changed just in time to prevent Mr Le Pen from chairing the July opening session

Under the previous rules, the oldest MEP chairs the inaugural session, something that would fall to Mr Le Pen, who was born in 1928, if he is re-elected in June's European Parliament elections.

The amendment, backed by the centre-right and socialists parties, instead says that the task should fall to the out-going parliament president, in this case centre-right German politician Hans-Gert Poettering.

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - Socialists in the European Parliament have said they will reject any bid by Jose Manuel Barroso to lead the European Commission for a second term unless he agrees to initiate more social policies.

Their conditional backing comes as they have not been able to find a candidate of their own, mainly due to internal disagreements.

The socialists have no counter-candidate for Jose Manuel Barroso

The centre-right EPP, on the other hand, has already formally endorsed Mr Barroso for a second mandate ahead of the European elections on 4-7 June.

One of the names floated as a potential counter-candidate to Mr Barroso was former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the leader of the European socialists. Yet this option appears to be off the table since at least two Socialist governments - the UK and Spain - openly back Mr Barroso.

Nicolas Sarkozy is back in his favorite role -- that of election campaigner. The French president is campaigning on behalf of his UMP party in the run-up to European elections -- and already has his eye on the 2012 presidential vote in France.

Sarkozy is back, teetering on his tiptoes, with his trademark big gestures and jerking shoulders. Speaking in front of 4,500 selected supporters of his Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party -- a thoroughly bourgeois audience of a certain age -- the French president carves a line in the air with the edge of his hand and punctuates his utterances with the stab of a pointed finger. The Le Parnasse sports stadium, where the rally is being held, has been decked out with blue carpeting for the occasion. Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking in front of the French tricolor and the European Union flag, builds himself up into a sweaty rage.

 An impassioned Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a campaign speech in Nimes Tuesday.

He rants, complains, praises, spouts polemics, speaks of "a beautiful France" in the heart of Europe and evokes the era of Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle. His hands reach into the air when he rails against "tax havens" and "the suicidal system" of a virtual economy and when he calls for "sustainable growth" and the "moralization of capitalism."

Sarkozy is back -- not as the head of state, not as president, but as the election campaigner in perpetual motion. It is his favorite role, one that he never really gave up.

The European elections in June will be the first fought under the lash of recession. MEPs will campaign on issues like the environment, justice and foreign affairs, but the economy tops the list of citizens concerns. The parties that are seen to have the best solutions will prosper at the polls. EU liberal democrats must rise to that challenge collectively - and within our own member states too

At a liberal rally on 24 April, Watson said that Britain was 'Europe's critical friend' (Image: ©European parliament) by --> The first thing we must do is be very clear about where responsibility lies. Our opponents like to band about the word `liberal' when apportioning blame for the financial crisis. This is utterly unfair, and must not go unchallenged. Extreme laissez faire economics and a refusal to ensure transparency in the financial sector are not the hallmarks of liberal democrats: they are policies traditionally favoured by the right, and adopted by a left which had no workable alternative of its own. Looking at the names of those politicians most associated with the extravagance of the last decade - former US president George Bush, and former and current UK prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown prominent among them - it is clear that the boom and bust we have experienced has been at the hands of those who blanche at the very word liberal. Liberal democrats must show that rather than cause the crisis, we have the policies that will keep the recession as short and shallow as possible and put in place a framework designed to prevent it happening again. How?

3D: Dynamic, diverse, and dramatic. Or rather dull, dying, and dreadful?

No, I'm not going to talk about major attributes of campaign for European Parliament Elections; I guess it's impossible to capture the essence in three words (not to mention all of them beginning with the letter "d"). I'm going to talk about THE INVASION OF MUTANT ZOMBIE CHICKENS!!!

OK, no more tabloid language... These are the chickens interesting enough to be protagonists of my post: