Negotiations on how positions of responsibility within the European Parliament will be distributed among political groups are going well—in preparation for the opening session of the European Parliament, which will be held from Tuesday, 16 July, to Friday, 19 July.
Next Tuesday, MEPs will first elect their president. Christian Democrat Roberta Metsola of Malta is standing as a candidate for a second two-and-a-half-year term. She is campaigning among political groups this week. She notably met with the Renew Europe group on Tuesday and will meet with the Greens/EFA group on Wednesday.
This function being awarded to the European People’s Party (EPP) is part of the agreement reached at the end of June in the EU Council on the distribution of senior European functions such as the presidencies of the European Commission and the European Council (see EUROPE 13441/1).
Next Tuesday and Wednesday, MEPs will elect the European Parliament’s Bureau, which is comprised of the president, fourteen vice-presidents, and five quaestors. Posts are distributed among political groups using the d’Hondt system, which is the starting point for negotiations. The EPP group could obtain three or four posts. The S&D and Renew Europe groups are laying claim to five and two posts, respectively. The ECR and Patriots for Europe groups could obtain a vice-presidency. According to one source, the Greens/EFA and The Left groups could obtain a post.
It is expected that the political groups that form a pro-European majority will decide to throw a ‘cordon sanitaire’ around the Patriots group, thus preventing it from receiving a European Parliament vice-presidency. On the other hand, they should not establish a ‘cordon sanitaire’ around the ECR group, since the EPP is against it.
The inaugural meetings of the parliamentary committees and sub-committees will take place in Brussels the week of Monday, 22 July. Meeting within the Bureau, the political groups are currently negotiating how the chairmanships and vice-chairmanships of the 20 parliamentary committees and the four parliamentary sub-committees will be distributed.
According to a provisional distribution done according to the d’Hondt system (of which Agence Europe has received a copy), the chairmanships of the parliamentary (sub)committees would be distributed as follows: EPP would get Foreign Affairs (AFET), Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), Fisheries (PECH), Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Constitutional Affairs (AFCO), Budgetary Control (CONT), Health (SANT); S&D would get Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), International Trade (INTA), Regional Development (REGI), Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM); Patriots for Europe would get Culture and Education (CULT) and Transport and Tourism (TRAN); ECR would get Budgets (BUDG), Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), and Petitions (PETI); Renew Europe would get Development (DEVE), Legal Affairs (JURI), and Security and Defence (SEDE); Greens/EFA would get Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) and Human Rights (DROI); and The Left would get Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) and Taxation (FISC).
This provisional breakdown also establishes how the vice-chairmanships of the parliamentary (sub)committees would be distributed according to political groups. As with the European Parliament vice-chairmanships, the Patriots for Europe group are expected to be subject to a ‘cordon sanitaire’.
Next week, MEPs will settle on the numerical composition of parliamentary committees and sub-committees. When asked about a change in parliamentary committees (see EUROPE 13431/25), Christian Democrat Peter Liese of Germany stated on Tuesday that the political groups had decided not to create a fully-fledged public health committee. He notably warned against overloading the ENVI Committee, of which the SANT sub-committee is an offshoot, with work during the 2024–2029 legislative period with “a quarter” of the legislative proposals under co-decision that have been lead, according to him, by the Environment Committee. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)