MEP Nela Riehl (Greens/EFA, German) was elected chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) on Tuesday, 23 July, during the inaugural session of the committee’s bureau. Nela Riehl belongs to the Volt party in Germany.
The chairmanship of the committee should have gone to Patriots for Europe, but a majority was formed so as to put a ‘cordon sanitaire’ in place around the new group. Ms Riehl thus received 18 votes in her favour, against the 11 votes received by Malika Sorel, an MEP from the Rassemblement national (Patriots for Europe, French).
On 15 July, a number of cultural stakeholders—notably the ‘Cultural Deal for Europe’ partners—had issued a statement urging the CULT Committee, through its bureau and rapporteurs, to represent and defend, in particular, the values of inclusion and solidarity.
Committee members also designated MEPs Bogdan Zdrojewski (EPP, Polish), Emma Rafowicz (S&D, French), Diana Riba i Giner (Greens/EFA, Spanish), and Hristo Petrov (Renew Europe, Bulgarian) as vice-chairs.
The European University Association (EUA) has already declared that it is eager to collaborate with the new committee. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)