More is likely to be known next week on both who will chair the European Parliament special committee whose task it will be, within a period of nine months, to throw light on the procedure for evaluating pesticides in the EU and any shortcomings found and what this committee will be called.
The chair of this new body will be known on Tuesday 20 February, once the S&D Group, to which this post is due, has reached a decision and it will probably be an MEP who expressed serious concerns over the renewal of the glyphosate licence in the EU.
Éric Andrieu (France), a member of the Parliament’s agriculture committee and one of the two MEPs who, as early as April 2017, called for a special Parliamentary committee or a committee of enquiry to be set up to investigate the Monsanto Papers, is strongly tipped for the job but is not the only candidate for the chairmanship.
Czech Pavel Poc, a member of the environment committee, is also a possibility and Simona Bonafè (Italy) could also be in the running. It was being said on Friday 16 February that Bonafè was a candidate but the information was not confirmed.
One thing, however, is certain Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) will one of the special committee’s joint rapporteurs, his group has confirmed. The other joint rapporteur – who will come from the EPP – could be a pro-glyphosate or pro-industry MEP, such as Pilar Ayuso (Spain), who was the first to speak in the hearing on the Monsanto Papers organised by the European Parliament, or Nuno Melo (Portugal).
The choice of the name of the committee, on which a brainstorming session has been held, has yet to be decided (see EUROPE 11957).
Andrieu is keen to keep the title “PEST committee”, which, he says, is “highly symbolic and already recognisable in the European media”.
There is still uncertainty over the date of the first meeting of the Parliamentary committee as it will depend on technical issues, such as the provision of resources for the committee secretariat and interpretation in its discussions. The constitutive meeting will take place either in week 9 (26 February-2 March), week 10 (5-9 March) or Monday 12 March, during the Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)