MEP Pasquale Tridico (The Left, Italian) was elected by acclamation as Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Tax Matters (FISC) on Tuesday 23 July. “This is the first parliamentary committee chairmanship to be awarded to the 5 Star Movement”, said the movement’s delegation to the European Parliament.
An economist and President of Italy’s National Social Security Institute from 2019 to 2023, he says he is “used to working on legislation”. “In a period where politics unfortunately is becoming very much interpretation or confusion sometimes, we have the opportunity here to work concretely and effectively”, he said, adding that “the subcommittee has scope to improve tax harmonisation” (see EUROPE 13425/3).
Two outgoing vice-chairs, Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Greens/EFA, Danish) and Markus Ferber (EPP, German), were re-elected by acclamation as first and third vice-presidents respectively. The two new MEPs, Regina Doherty (EPP, Irish) and Mathias Ecke (German, S&D), were elected by acclamation as second and fourth vice-chairs respectively.
“I’m really happy for the Greens, we have the first vice-chairs both in ECON and FISC, and it shows to everyone that we want to work on economic justice, ensuring a good single market for citizens and companies”, commented Ms Peter-Hansen, who was interviewed by Agence Europe after the vote. “We will continue the discussions both on unanimity and the wealth taxation initiative that is ongoing”, she said, despite the fact that “the Commission and Council have taken a shift to the right” (see EUROPE 13451/23).
The FISC sub-committee will meet again on Thursday 26 September. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)