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.
[4] 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.
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.
[6] 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.
In the event, after the election, former Italian Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita was in fact the oldest member, rather than Le Pen.