After a truce of more than 2 months, the European Parliament will officially reconvene next week. The election of the President of the institution will occupy MEPs as soon as work resumes on Tuesday 2 July at 10 a.m., with first of all the appointment of eight tellers who will supervise this election and set the deadline for submitting candidatures for this post, and then the election of the President on 3 July(EUROPE 12282/14).
It is in a rather complicated context that the 751 elected representatives, including the 73 British MEPs, are preparing to take their seats: indeed, it is possible that they still do not know, on Tuesday 2 July, who will be the next President of the Commission, whereas the post of European Parliament President has been put in a global package of appointments alongside those for the European Council, the European Central Bank and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
If European leaders do not agree on all European appointments on Sunday 30 June or Monday 1 July in the morning, starting with the appointment of the President of the Commission (see other news), the European Parliament will therefore have two options: decide to choose a President on 3 July - and the deadline for submitting applications will in any case be Tuesday 2 July in the evening - or take more time, as the European Parliament can use a rule to extend the mandate of the current President of the institution, the Italian Antonio Tajani.
Currently, only the ECR and GUE/NGL groups have officially announced the names of their perch candidates: the Czech 'Spitzenkandidat' and deputy Jan Zahradil for the Conservatives and the Spanish Sira Rego for the radical left. The other groups will therefore have to choose a candidate by Tuesday evening.
As for the election itself, unless there is a sudden turn of events and a last-minute change, it will take place on 3 July at 9 a.m., by secret ballot. The President will be elected for 2.5 years. To win, the candidate will require an absolute majority of the votes cast, i.e. 50% of the votes plus one vote (376). Each candidate will be credited at the start with 5 minutes to make their speech.
If after three ballots no candidate has obtained an absolute majority of the votes cast, the fourth ballot shall be confined to the two MEPs who have obtained the highest number of votes in the third ballot. The winner is the candidate who gets the higher number of votes.
Composition of the committees approved this week, the presidencies set later
Once this election has been ratified, the deputies will be called upon to elect the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament. On the same day, they will also vote on the composition of the European Parliament committees, with the 4 largest committees in numerical terms being the Environment (ENVI), Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Foreign Affairs (AFET) and Civil Liberties (LIBE) (see other news).
The chairmanships of these European Parliament committees will be determined later, in the week of 8 July. On Friday 28 June, during a briefing, the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group confirmed that it was targeting the chairmanship of the Agriculture (AGRI) and Legal Affairs (JURI) Committees as permitted by the d'Hondt rule, said Sergio Garuzzio, one of the ID Group's Deputy Secretaries General. The group also intends to submit a nomination for a position as European Parliament Vice-President, according to our information.
Will this be possible? "We know that it is based on a kind of gentlemen's agreement and that there are reservations", he added. "We will see what they say, reiterating that our parties have taken millions of votes, but it is not up to us to decide our destiny", he said.
On the side of the other groups, the idea is to counter these two candidates for the chairmanships of the ID group's committees and to create a kind of cordon sanitaire (see EUROPE 12284/9). But "we will see on a case-by-case basis", says another source from one of the four political groups currently negotiating a joint work programme.
More than just the party, the candidate's profile will also be examined, even if candidates from parties in conflict with the European Parliament - for example, the French Rassemblement national or the German AFD or Vlaams Belang - could be directly excluded.
Debate on the Council of the EU on 30 June. For the rest of this session, on the morning of Thursday 4 July, MEPs will hold a debate with the current Presidents of the Commission and the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, on the outcome of the 30 June Summit. A summit which, on Friday 28 June, presented, in the eyes of some MEPs, "as many chances of success as chances of having to postpone everything until September".
The final composition of the hemicycle takes shape
New faces, new names and new coalitions: since the 26 May election, changes in the European Parliament have been rushing forward. The political groups had until Wednesday 26 June to submit their names and membership to the Parliament's administration. The final composition of the hemicycle is finally taking shape.
EPP. The EPP group has consolidated its status as the first group in the European Parliament. While it had 179 MEPs on 26 May, it now has 182 MEPs. The EPP was the first of the political groups to form and elect its ten vice-presidents on 5 June (see EUROPE 12269/7). He unanimously reappointed the current group chairman, the German Manfred Weber, perhaps on a provisional basis, if he takes over the presidency of the European Commission or another senior European position.
S&D. On 18 June (see EUROPE 12277/14), the S&D elected its new president, the Spanish Iratxe García, the only candidate for the post after the resignation of the outgoing president, the German Udo Bullmann, the day before (see EUROPE 12276/10). The group, which consists of 154 MEPs, also elected on 19 June its nine vice-presidents and its treasurer (see EUROPE 12278/12).
RE. ALDE has been given a new look and with its 108 MEPs, it renamed itself "Renew Europe" (RE) on 12 June (see EUROPE 12273/25). Romanian Dacian Ciolos won the presidency of the group on 19 June, with 65 votes against 41 for the Dutch Sophie in't Veld (see EUROPE 12278/9).
Greens/EFA. On the Greens/EFA side, the two-headed presidency of the previous legislature, represented by Germany's Ska Keller and Belgium's Philippe Lamberts, was renewed on 12 June (see EUROPE 12272/34). With its contingent of 75 MEPs, compared to the 69 initially announced in the European Parliament projections, the group is in fourth place on the political scene, with new MEPs from the pan-European citizen movement Volt (see EUROPE 12272/34) and the Czech and German pirate parties (see EUROPE 12268/29).
ID. The far-right group, the ENF, has renamed itself "Identity and Democracy" (ID). It now consists of 73 MEPs from nine countries, compared to 36 under the previous mandate, and has risen to the rank of fifth political group in the European Parliament. Italian Lega MEP Marco Zanni will be the president, while Nicolas Bay of the French Rassemblement National and Jörg Meuthen of the German AfD have been elected vice-presidents (see EUROPE 12274/8).
ECR. Having welcomed the three elected representatives of the Spanish Vox party despite the reticence of the Belgian N-VA party, the ECR group is the sixth political group. Dominated by the Polish PiS party, it now has 62 MEPs from 15 Member States. On 19 June (see EUROPE 12278/10), it appointed Pole Ryszard Legutko and Italian Raffaele Fitto as co-chairs.
GUE/NGL. With the recent arrival of two Irish and one German animalist, the GUE/NGL group now has 41 MEPs. Its members decided in favour of a temporary collective leadership, formed after a group meeting on Wednesday 26 June (see EUROPE 12283/4). Martin Schirdewan will be the interim president until a final election is held on 16 July.
EFDD. The Eurosceptic group EFDD disappears from the European political landscape (see EUROPE 12282/21). Nigel Farage's British Brexit Party, which refused to join the ID group, and the Italian 5-star Movement (M5S), whose membership of the GUE/NGL group has been refused, are therefore, for the moment, without political groups and could sit with non-attached MEPs.
The European Parliament will also say goodbye to outgoing MEPs. A flag-raising ceremony will be held on Monday 1 July at 5:30 p.m. on the square. It will be followed by a medal award ceremony in the Chamber. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Marion Fontana)