The Committee of the Regions is expected to lose members with the departure of the British following Brexit, but an additional political group is expected with the creation of a new Greens group, according to our information obtained on Tuesday 4 February.
If confirmed within the week, this would bring the total number of political groups in the Committee of the Regions to six.
The other groups have been or are in the process of being formed. The EPP group did so last Friday and in the process nominated its presidential candidate, the Greek Apostolos Tzitzikostas. The PES group was constituted on Monday 3 February and confirmed as candidate the Portuguese Vasco Cordeiro (see EUROPE 12416/27). On the same day, the Renew Europe group also held its constitutive meeting and elected Ulrika Landergren of Sweden as a candidate for the Presidency. The European Alliance group, for its part, was constituted on Tuesday 4 February and did not elect any candidates. The ECR group is expected to hold its constitutive meeting next week, likely February 12, we are told.
It should be noted that with the departure of the British members following Brexit, the Committee loses 21 seats from 350 to 329. Three national delegations will be rebalanced and get an additional seat, namely Luxembourg, Estonia and Cyprus.
On 12 February, the members of the Committee will be invited to elect their new President, to succeed Karl-Heinz Lambertz (PES, Belgium). It is customary for the EPP and the PES to share the presidency. It is therefore likely that the new president will be Apostolos Tzitzikostas, who comes from the Christian Democratic ranks. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)