181 of the 350 members of the Committee of the Regions and their alternates were appointed by the EU Council for the 2020-2025 period on a proposal from the Member States, on Tuesday 10 December.
The Committee's new mandate will begin at the plenary session on 12 and 13 February 2020. On this occasion, the members of the Committee will elect their chairperson.
The Party of European Socialists (PES) elected, on 4 December, its candidate for the presidency of the next Committee: the Portuguese Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President of the Azores Regional Government.
The European People's Party (EPP) will elect its candidate at the end of January. According to our information, the two possible candidates are the Pole, Olgierd Geblewicz, Marshal of the West Pomeranian voivodeship, and the Greek, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Regional Governor of Central Macedonia. However, their application has not yet been officially submitted.
The two main political groups represented in the Committee - the PES and the EPP groups - agree at the beginning of each term to designate the group that will take over the first presidency. The President is elected for a term of only two and a half years. Discussions on this point will take place in the coming weeks.
In addition, the EU Council has yet to receive any lists from the British Government. Technically, this list could still be given to it before Christmas. However, the Committee has taken steps to ensure that, otherwise, its legal basis is not affected. The 24 British seats could be frozen until the Brexit issue is resolved.
If the United Kingdom leaves the EU, three of the seats left vacant will go to Estonia, Cyprus and Luxembourg respectively. The remaining 21 seats will be left vacant in view of future EU enlargements.
The Bureau of the Committee agreed that once Brexit is approved, a contact group will be set up so that contact can be maintained with the local and regional governments of the British nations. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, intern)