On Tuesday, 23 July, Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI) elected Cristian Ghinea (RE, Romania), Adrian-Dragoș Benea (S&D, Romania), and Isabel Benjumea (EPP, Spain) the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Vice-Chairs of the REGI Committee, respectively.
Mr Ghinea and Mr Benea were elected by acclamation. In contrast, the last Vice-Chair was elected by secret ballot due to support for the extreme right-wing Identity and Democracy (ID) party candidate, Italian Francesca Donato, for the 4th Vice-Chair. The EPP candidate, Mrs Benjumea, was elected by a clear majority (26 votes in favour, 8 votes for Mrs Donato, 7 abstentions). The cordon sanitaire against the extreme right was also applied in the REGI Committee although certain people are concerned about the very right-wing profile of the EPP MEP.
Thus, with Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL, France) as Chair of the Committee and Krzysztof Hetman (EPP, Poland) as First Vice-Chair (see EUROPE 12293/5), the entire bureau has been formed. The geographical balance has been more or less respected (even with two Romanians); however, with only one woman in the bureau, it will be a very masculine committee. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)