On Thursday 18 July in the morning, on the sidelines of the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, after lengthy negotiations and several postponements, the Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament finally elected its presidency for the next two and a half years, by consensus.
As expected (see EUROPE 12298/6), the group opted for a two-headed presidency, like the Greens/EFA group or the ECR group, and chose a Franco-German duo by confirming the interim president, Martin Schirdewan (Die Linke) of Germany (see EUROPE 12283/4), and by electing the French Manon Aubry (La France insoumise - LFI).
The 29-year-old Frenchwoman, who is starting her first term as an MEP, is the youngest woman elected to head a group in the history of the European Parliament. She will sit on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), where she will also be coordinator on behalf of the group, a key political position. Martin Schirdewan, who is entering his second parliamentary term, will also sit on the ECON Committee.
This election firmly anchors the position of the LFI delegation (6 deputies) within the group (41 deputies), with the election of Younous Omarjee (long anticipated for the group's presidency) as head of the Regional Development Committee (REGI), making him the first Frenchman and first French overseas territories representative to head a parliamentary committee in the Parliament (see EUROPE 12295/4). The latter is also coordinator within the powerful Budgets Committee (BUDG).
On the same day, the delegations renewed the temporary collective management and chose as vice-presidents the Portuguese João Ferreira (PCP and coordinator in the fisheries committee) and Marisa Matias (Bloco) as well as Nikolaj Villumsen (Enhedslisten, Danish and coordinator in the employment and social affairs committee). The group's former candidate for the presidency of the Parliament, Sira Rego (Izquierda Unida, Spanish, coordinator in the Petitions Committee) was also appointed as vice-president.
This distribution is the result of tough negotiations, the group having to decide by consensus and respect several main principles, in particular gender parity, geographical distribution and balance between the group's main political families (European Left, Nordic Green Left, Now the People and the Communists), taking into account the election of Dimitrios Papadimoulis of Greece as Vice-President of the Parliament and the reappointment of Sanna Lepola of Finland as Secretary General (see EUROPE 12273/18). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)