Seven committees of the European Parliament elected their Chair and Bureau for the remaining two and a half years of the legislature on Monday 24 January. Only the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs had a change of Chair.
Employment and Social Policy. The MEPs of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) elected Romanian MEP Dragoş Pîslaru (Renew Europe) as its Chairman by secret ballot, with 37 votes in favour, 13 against and one abstention. Thus, Mr Pîslaru will replace Lucia Nicholsonová as head of the committee, as she did not find enough support internally to be able to present her candidature on behalf of the Renew Europe Group. Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, Italy) was elected first Vice-Chair by acclamation to succeed Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D, Lithuania). Leïla Chaibi (The Left, France) was elected to replace Sandra Pereira (The Left, Portugual) as second Vice-Chair. Romana Tomc (EPP, Slovenia) and Katrin Langensiepen (Greens/EFA, Germany) were reappointed as third and fourth Vice-Chairs respectively.
Agriculture. The Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture remains Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany). The Vice-Chairs are: - Benoît Biteau (Greens/EFA, France), who replaces Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA, Portugual) as first Vice-Chair; - Daniel Buda (EPP, Romania); - Mazaly Aguilar (ECR, Spain); - Elsi Katainen (Renew Europe, Finland).
Fisheries. Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, France) remains Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries. The Vice-Chairs remain the same: Peter van Dalen (EPP, Netherlands), Søren Gade (Renew Europe, Denmark), Giuseppe Ferrandino (S&D, Italy) and Graça Carvalho (EPP, Portugual), who was preferred (22 votes in favour) to France Jamet (ID, France), who received three votes.
Economic and Monetary Affairs. On Monday, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) also renewed its governing body. The Chair of the ECON Commission, Italian Social Democrat Irene Tinagli, and the first Vice-Chair, Luděk Niedermayer (EPP, Czech) were re-elected by acclamation. Using the d’Hondt rule, the Identity and Democracy Group tried to place France Jamet (France) as second Vice-Chair. Following a vote, Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, France) was re-elected as second Vice-Chair (44 votes against nine for Ms Jamet). MEPs then appointed by acclamation Michiel Hoogeveen (ECR, Netherlands) and José Gusmão (The Left, Portugual) as third and fourth Vice-Chairs respectively.
Budgetary control. Little change in Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control: Monika Hohlmeier (EPP, Germany) was re-elected Chair of the committee. The Vice-Chairs remain: - Isabel García Muñoz (S&D, Spain), first Vice-Chair; - Caterina Chinnici (S&D, Italy), second Vice-Chair, who was preferred (23 votes in favour) to Joachim Kuhs (ID, Germany), who received five votes; - Gilles Boyer (Renew Europe, France) was re-elected as third Vice-Chair; - the fourth Vice-Chair is Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP, Czech).
Foreign Affairs. David McAllister (EPP, Germany) was re-elected on Monday 24 January by acclamation and without competition as head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The Vice-Chairs were also all re-elected by acclamation, without facing any competition. Witold Waszczykowski (ECR, Poland) remains first Vice-Chair, Urmas Paet (Renew Europe, Estonia) second, Sergei Stanishev (S&D, Bulgaria) third, and Željana Zovko (EPP, Croatia) fourth Vice-Chair.
International Trade. Bernd Lange (S&D, Germany) was re-elected by acclamation to head the Committee on International Trade. As for the Vice-Chairs, only the first of these, Jan Zahradil (ECR, Czech), has so far been re-elected by acclamation. The election of the second Vice-Chair will take place electronically on 25 January, as two candidates are standing. The election of the last two positions will follow.
Upcoming committees and stages
On Tuesday 25 January, it will be the turn of the Committees on Women’s Rights (FEMM) and Regional Development (REGI) to elect their bureau. On Wednesday 26 January, it will be the turn of the Committees on Development (DEVE), Civil Liberties (LIBE), Culture and Education (CULT), Legal Affairs (JURI), Environment and Health (ENVI), Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) and the Security and Defence (SEDE) and Human Rights (DROI) sub-committees to vote for their Chairs and Vice-Chairs.
Once all the Chairs have been appointed, the vote on the chairmanship of the Conference of Parliamentary Committee Chairs (CPC) will take place by 15 February. According to our information, it should be an Italian member of the S&D Group who should succeed Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens with the editorial staff)