The chairmanships and bureaux of the various Committee of the Regions Commissions were decided by acclamation at the plenary session in Brussels on Thursday 13 February.
While the Christian Democrats of the EPP are the largest group in terms of number of members, they chair two Commissions, whereas the Social Democrats of the PES, the second largest group in the Committee, take over three, including the emblematic COTER Commission, dedicated to cohesion policy. Renew Europe, on the other hand, although it is not very close behind the Social Democrats, has its hands on a single Commission. Not a single Commission is chaired by a member from Central or Eastern Europe.
Germany's Mark Speich (EPP) will chair the Commission for Citizenship, Governance and Institutional Affairs (CIVEX) and Ireland's Michael Murphy (EPP) will chair the Commission for Economic Policy (ECON). French MEP Isabelle Boudineau (PES) will head the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and the EU Budget (COTER).
Spain's Juan Espadas (PES) will chair the Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE), Finland's Anne Karjalainen (PES) will chair the Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) and Sweden's Ulrika Landergren (Renew Europe) will chair the Commission for Natural Resources (NAT).
It should be noted that the terms of office of the chairpersons are two and a half years. The various Commissions will begin their work in the last week of February for the SEDEC, CIVEX and ENVE Commissions and the first week of March for the ECON, COTER and NAT Commissions.
The French in key positions. The same day, in a press release, the French delegation welcomed the fact that it had obtained several key positions within the Committee: in particular the chairmanship of the COTER Commission, the presidency of the Renew Europe group with François Decoster, a vice-presidency of the new Green group (see EUROPE 12418/18) with Guillaume Cros and the chairmanship of the Committee's contact group with the United Kingdom with Loïg Chesnais-Girard.
The day before, the Committee of the Regions held its constituent plenary session for the next five years and appointed Apostolos Tzitzikostas (EPP) of Greece as its new President and Vasco Cordeiro (PES) of Portugal as Vice-President (see EUROPE 12424/14). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)