On Thursday 18 July in the morning, the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) elected Lucia Nicholsonová (ECR), former State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Social and Family Affairs and Slovak MEP, by secret ballot (38 votes in favour, 14 against, 3 abstentions) as its chair.
Within the Conservative group, bitterness was palpable, this election following two rejections of its candidate the former Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydło (see EUROPE 12296/28, 1293/3). Although Lucia Nicholsonová thanked the members of the committee for the trust they had placed in her, hoping for "political reconciliation and constructive discussions" to improve the lives of European citizens, the co-chair of the Conservative group, the Polish Ryszard Legutko, did not mince his words, denouncing the attitude of the Social Democrats.
"Even when we put forward another very credible candidate in our Slovakian MEP Lucia Nicholsonova, the Socialists still requested a secret ballot.". He added: "They are full of clichés about democracy but are unable to accept anyone with a different view to their own". Mr Legutko was therefore sceptical about the prognosis for how the Groups will work together in the future.
The Social Democrats have, as in the past, requested a secret ballot vote. It is true that they were not particularly enthusiastic about the candidacy of Mrs Nicholsonová and would have preferred that of Helmut Geuking (ECR, Germany), who was for many years a member of the SPD, then of the former German radical left party WASG, before the merger of the Linkspartei to create the Die Linke party.
Vice-Presidents
Following this, the 4 Vice-Presidents were elected, namely, in order: Lithuanian Social Democrat Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Sandra Pereira (GUE/NGL, Portugal), Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP, Czech Republic) and Katrin Langensiepen (Greens/EFA, Germany). Few changes to the list drawn up before the votes on 10 July, with the exception of Mrs Pereira, who replaced the French MEP Leila Chaibi (GUE/NGL).
Interview with the Commissioners
This election makes it possible to unblock the election of the presidency of the Conference of Committee Chairs, which is potentially scheduled to take place next Tuesday, we are told. In any case, interviews of Romanian and Estonian candidates for the posts left vacant by the departure of Commissioners Corina Crețu and Andrus Ansip are not expected to take place until September. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)