As expected, the 75 members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) elected by acclamation, on 23 July, the Spanish EPP member Javier Zarzalejos to Chair the committee for two and a half years.
The Spaniard, who notably worked on the regulations on the removal of terrorist content online (shadow rapporteur) and the removal of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), for which he is the LIBE rapporteur, succeeds another Spaniard, the Socialist Juan Fernando López Aguilar, who headed this committee for 10 years.
The Spaniard from the EPP, who paid tribute to him, will be assisted in the chairing by Estonia’s Marina Kaljurand (S&D), first vice-president, Sweden’s Charlie Weimers (ECR), 2nd vice-president, Italy’s Alessandro Zan (S&D), 3rd vice-president, and Spain’s Estrella Galan (The Left), 4th vice-president.
As agreed between the various European Parliament groups, the Patriots for Europe did not obtain a post, despite the proposal made by France’s Fabrice Leggeri (Patriots for Europe) to appoint the Dutch Marieke Ehlers to the post of First Vice-President of LIBE.
The French MEP went on to express the group’s “deep regret” at seeing “that from the very start of the LIBE session, the ‘d'Hondt’ rules are not being respected; we regret that the spirit of democracy is not present in this hemicycle when, tomorrow, we will have colleagues giving lessons in law and democracy and the ‘d'Hondt’ rules will not have been respected”.
The Renew Europe group, led by France’s Fabienne Keller, also tried to oppose the appointment of Charlie Weimers in the name of another anti-ECR ‘cordon sanitaire’ applied by the pro-European coalition in the European Parliament, she explained to her colleagues.
Calling for the postponement of the vote for this second vice-president with a view to putting forward a Renew Europe candidate, the French MEP was supported by the Dutch Greens/EFA MEP, Tineke Strik, who wanted the vote for the second vice-president not to be for a “racist candidate”, she explained, naming Charlie Weimers.
The Greens/EFA MEP called for votes to be cast in favour of a candidate who was more respectful of the Rule of law and fundamental values, prompting reactions from members of the ECR and Patriots for Europe. The postponement of this election was not supported, rejected by 41 votes to 33, and the Swede was elected by secret ballot by 37 votes to 33 with 2 abstentions.
An exchange had already been agreed, in the name of this ‘cordon sanitaire’, between the EPP and ECR groups, although the chairmanship of LIBE could initially have gone to the Conservatives under an initial division of parliamentary committees based on the ‘d'Hondt’ rule.
The European Socialists, in particular, had put pressure on the EPP to organise this exchange and not let the Conservatives chair a committee dedicated to migrants’ rights or the Rule of law.
The LIBE Committee, which has grown by 6 members compared to the previous legislature, will begin its work on 24 July with a hearing scheduled for the European Commissioners for Home Affairs and Justice, Ylva Johansson and Didier Reynders. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)