The office of the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe is fully staffed. After electing its president the day before, the group appointed its vice-presidents and treasurer on Wednesday 19 June. The vice-presidents are responsible for coordinating the group's work on political issues and overseeing issues of interest to several parliamentary committees.
There were about twenty candidates for nine vice-presidencies. These positions include well-known faces, such as the former Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Roberto Gualtieri (Italy) or the Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange (Germany). The former Swedish Minister for Asylum and Immigration, Hélène Fritzon, is the only one to serve her first term as an MEP. The other Vice-Presidents are: France's Eric Andrieu, rapporteur on one of the three post-2020 CAP issues (common market organisation); Malta's Miriam Dalli, rapporteur on asylum and migration policy; UK Labour's Claude Moraes, former rapporteur on the EU Citizens' Mass Electronic Surveillance Inquiry Committee; Romania's former Labour Minister Rovana Plumb; the Netherlands' Kati Piri, who drafted a report on Turkey, and Croatia's Biljana Borzan, who wrote an own-initiative report in the eighth legislative term on food waste.
The newly elected former Finnish Minister of Finance, Eero Heinäluoma, has been appointed Group Treasurer.
Iratxe García Pérez does not compromise on the presidency the Commission
The newly elected S&D Group President held a second press briefing in the morning of 19 July, reiterating her support for a progressive majority. When asked about the absence of a significant number of women in the race for top European positions, she said that her political family would "do everything possible to avoid that there are no woman in positions of responsibility". (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)