MEPs have essentially elected, for a period of two and a half years, all the presidents and a large majority of the vice-presidents of the 20 parliamentary committees and the two subcommittees of the European Parliament on Wednesday 10 July.
As expected, the cordon sanitaire was applied to prevent far-right MEPs from taking over positions of responsibility, which could have been theirs if MEPs had fully respected the distribution of posts according to the d'Hondt rule (see EUROPE 12293/4).
Among the partially postponed elections are the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), Education and Culture (CULT), and Constitutional Affairs (AFCO). Only a complete postponement has been planned for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) (see EUROPE 12293/3).
Overview of these elections whose results largely confirm our forecasts (see EUROPE 1289/2).
Foreign Affairs (AFET). As expected, David McAllister (EPP, Germany) retained his position as Chairman of the Committee. The 1st Vice-President was elected in the person of Witold Waszczykowski (Poland) (ECR) (37 votes in favour, 24 against, 7 abstentions) to enable the committee to function.
But the other Vice-Presidents could not be, as only men were candidates. Under Rule 213 of the European Parliament Rules of Procedure, it is not permitted for all members of the office to be of the same sex. The election of the second, third and fourth Vice-Presidents has been postponed in order to allow the political groups to make further proposals.
Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI). The committee elected Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany). He received 36 votes in favour, while the candidate from the Identity and Democracy group, Maxette Pirbakase of France, received 11 votes. Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA, Portugal) was elected as first Vice-President and Daniel Buda (EPP, Romania) as second Vice-President.
The committee decided to postpone the elections of the third and fourth Vice-Presidents until 23 July. The reason given was the candidacy for the post of third Vice-President of the Spanish Mazaly Aguilar (ECR), a candidacy rejected by the S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups because of his membership of the far-right Vox party.
Budgets (BUDG). The members of the committee elected by acclamation their officers, consisting of the President and four Vice-Presidents, for a term of two and a half years. The president is Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium) and the 4 Vice-Presidents are, in order: Janusz Lewandowski (EPP, Poland), Olivier Chastel (Renew Europe, Belgium), Margarida Marques (S&D, Portugal) and Niclas Herbst (EPP, Germany).
Culture and Education (CULT). Sabine Verheyen (EPP, Germany), who is beginning her third parliamentary term, has been chosen to chair the committee. The first Vice-President is Remeo Franz (Greens/EFA, Germany) and the second, the former Minister of Culture, the Latvian Dace Melbārde (ECR).
The members of the committee did not appoint the third and fourth Vice-Presidents, due to a dispute over the candidacy of the Hungarian MEP from the Fidesz party, Andrea Bocskor (EPP). The members of the committee will meet on 23 July to decide this question.
Development (DEVE). Tomas Tobé (EPP, Sweden) will chair the committee. The only candidate for the position, he was elected by acclamation.
All the Vice-Presidents were also elected by acclamation. The first Vice-President will be Pierette Herzberger-Fofana (Greens/EFA). The 2nd Vice-President will be the German Norbert Neuser (S&D) who was already sitting on this committee. The French Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew Europe) was elected 3rd Vice-President. The 4th Vice-President will be the German Eric Marquardt (Greens/EFA).
Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). Italian Roberto Gualtieri (S&D) has been reappointed for a new term as head of the committee. Already Vice-President of the ECON Committee in the previous legislature, the Czech Luděk Niedermayer (EPP) was elected by acclamation as 1st Vice-President while the Dutch Derk Jan Eppink (ECR) becomes 3rd Vice-President and the Portuguese José Gusmao (GUE/NGL) 4th Vice-President.
The cordon sanitaire announced around the ID group candidate for the position of 2nd Vice-President, the Italian Antonio Rinaldi, worked. It was the candidate of the Renew Europe (RE) group, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin of France, who won the position by 41 votes to 17.
Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL). The commission was in the spotlight today with the planned election of former Prime Minister Beate Szydłow. Finally, the Polish woman was rejected outright (21 votes in favour, 27 against). This situation has led to the suspension of the constituent meeting, which is expected to resume next week.
Environment and Public Health (ENVI). As expected, Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, France) was easily elected head of the committee. He did not fail to point out that with 76 MEPs, the ENVI Committee had become, for the first time in its history, the largest in terms of numbers.
Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), Seb Dance (S&D, UK), Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (EPP, Romania) and Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL, Netherlands) were elected first, second, third and fourth Vice-President, respectively.
Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO). The chairmanship of this committee was transferred from the ECR group to the Greens/EFA group with the election of the Belgian Petra de Sutter, the first transsexual ever elected to such a position in the European Parliament. Elected First Vice-President Dita Charanzová (Renew Europe, Czech Republic). Italian Maria Grapini (S&D, Romania) will be the 2nd Vice-President, Róża Thun (EPP, Poland) the 3rd and Portuguese Maria Manuel Leitão Marques (S&D) the 4th.
International Trade (INTA). The cordon sanitaire was also applied in this committee. The German Maximilian Krah (ID) was ousted from the position of second and then third Vice-President.
Another German, Bernd Lange (S&D), who is already the outgoing Chair, is in charge of the chairmanship. Also elected by acclamation to the position of first Vice-President Jan Zahradil (ECR, Czech Republic), former 4th Vice-President, whose former position went to a newcomer, the French Marie-Pierre Vedrenne (Renew Europe). The 2nd and 3rd posts of Vice-President are held by the EPP group, respectively by Iuliu Winkler of Romania and Anna-Michelle Asimakopoulou of Greece.
Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). Romanian Adina-Ioana Vălean (EPP) was elected by acclamation as Chairwoman of the committee. She arrived during her term in 2007 and has previously chaired the ENVI Committee.
The cordon sanitaire decreed against the Polish PiS did not work since Zdzisław Krasnoebski (ECR) obtained the first vice-presidency. On the other hand. On the other hand, the Frenchwoman Joëlle Mélin (ID), who sought the fourth vice-presidency, was not elected. The three Vice-Presidents are, in order, Morten Petersen (Greens/EFA, Denmark), Patrizia Toia (S&D, Italy) and Lina Gálvez-Muñoz (Spain).
Legal Affairs (JURI). According to the d'Hondt rule, the chair of the committee should have been Gilles Lebreton of France, from the ID group. But due to the cordon sanitaire, it was Lucy Nethsingha (Renew Europe, UK) who obtained it in the end.
She will lead the commission alongside the following Vice-Presidents: Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens/EFA, Germany), Marion Walsmann (EPP, Germany), Iban Garcia Del Blanco (S&D, Spain) and former Italian Senator Raffaele Stancanelli (ECR).
Civil Liberties and Justice (LIBE). As expected, Juan Fernando Lápez Aguilar, a Spaniard from S&D, will chair this commission again after having done so between 2009 and 2014.
Although the MEPs elected Maite Pagazaurtundúa (Renew Europe, Spain) as 1st Vice-President by acclamation, they blocked the way for an elected member of the ID group for the second Vice-President, under the cordon sanitaire. It was therefore the Italian socialist Pietro Bartolo, who was elected by electronic voting instead.
The candidature for the 3rd vice-presidency of the EPP candidate from the Fideszparty, Balázs Hidvéghi, was opposed by some Greens/EFA, S&D and Renew Europe groups. Finally, it will be up to the EPP to present another candidate, announced Mr Lopez Aguilar.
As for the position of 4th Vice-President, it was the Bulgarian Emil Radev (EPP) who was elected by acclamation.
Regional Development (REGI). As expected, the committee elected the former Vice-President of the same committee, Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France), as chair of the committee.
Krzysztof Hetman (EPP, Poland) was elected 1st Vice-President. Elections for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Vice-Presidents have been postponed to 22 or 23 July, due to a failure to respect gender equality. It should be noted, however, that according to the D'Hondt rule, the 4th vice-presidency should be held by a member of the far-right ID group, which should however be the subject of the cordon sanitaire.
Transport and Tourism (TRAN). The outgoing President, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), the only candidate, was re-elected by acclamation.
Johan Danielsson (S&D, Sweden), Sven Schulze (EPP, Germany) and István Ujhelyi (S&D, Hungary) were elected first, second and third Vice-Presidents, respectively, all by acclamation. And Jan-Christoph Oetjen (Renew Europe, Germany) was elected fourth Vice-President, facing Julie Lechanteux (ID, France).
Constitutional Affairs (AFCO). The former President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy) was elected head of the Constitutional Affairs Committee. The first Vice-President is Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, Germany) (17 votes in favour). He was opposed by the Belgian Gabriele Bischoff (ID). The rest of the elections have been postponed to 15 July.
Fisheries (PECH). Chris Davies (Renew Europe, UK) was elected by acclamation as Chairman of the Committee. Peter Van Dalen (EPP, Netherlands) was elected first Vice-President, Søren Gade (RE, Denmark) second vice-president and Giuseppe Ferrandino (S&D, Italy) third Vice-President, all by acclamation.
Cláudia Monteiro de Aguiar (EPP, Portugal) was elected fourth Vice-President with 19 votes for, against the second candidate, Rosanna Conte (ID, Italy), who received 8 votes.
Petitions (PETI). The former Spanish Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat (EPP), will chair the Committee on Petitions. She will be supported by the following Vice-Presidents: Tatjana Zdanoka (Greens/EFA, Latvia), Yana Toom (Renew Europe, Estonia), Ryszard Czarnecki (ECR, Poland) and Cristina Maestre Martin de Almagro (S&D, Spain).
The Renew Europe group failed to prevent Mr Czarnecki's appointment on the grounds that he belonged to the Polish PiS party.
Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). The committee elected Evelyn Regner (S&D) from Austria, who used to sit on the Legal Affairs Committee.
Elected as Vice-Presidents in order: Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (GUE/NGL, Spain), Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA, France), Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi (EPP, Greece) and Robert Biedroń (S&D, Poland).
Budgetary Control (CONT). At its constitutive meeting, the committee elected Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany) by acclamation as Chairperson.
Isabel García Muñoz (S&D, Spain) was elected by acclamation as first Vice-President. Caterina Chinnici (S&D, Italy) was elected after a vote (18 votes for) second Vice-President (the other candidate, the Italian from the ID group, Matteo Adinolfi, obtained the support of 7 MEPs). The third Vice-President is Martina Dlabajová (Renew Europe, Czech Republic), by acclamation. Deutsch Tamás (EPP, Hungary) was elected fourth Vice-President, after a secret ballot (11 votes in favour and 6 against).
Human Rights (DROI). Not surprisingly, the presidency was assigned to Marie Arena (S&D, Belgium), while the first, second, third and fourth vice-presidencies were assigned to Irina von Wiese (Renew Europe, UK), Hannah Neumann (Greens/EFA, Germany), Karoline Edtstadler (EPP, Austria) and Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France), respectively.
Security and Defence (SEDE). The Frenchwoman from Renew Europe, Nathalie Loiseau, was elected Chair of the Security and Defence Subcommittee, facing her compatriot from the ID group, Jérôme Rivière (14 votes in favour, 8 against and 4 abstentions).
By acclamation, Nikos Androulakis (S&D, Greece) was elected 1st Vice-President, as were the 3rd and 4th Vice-Presidents, Özlem Demirel (GUE/NGL) of Germany and Lukas Mandl (EPP) of Austria. The second Vice-President, Hungarian Kinga Gal (EPP), had to face a secret ballot, which she won. (Original version in French by the editorial staff)