MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI) renewed their bureau for a two-and-a-half-year term on Tuesday 23 July. Poland’s Bogdan Rzońca (ECR) was elected Chair by a narrow majority, with 17 votes in favour, 16 against and one abstention, following a secret ballot requested by the Social Democrat (S&D) group.
Mr Rzońca succeeds Spain’s Dolors Montserrat (EPP), who will nevertheless remain a member of the bureau, as she has been elected first Vice-Chair.
Sentenced to 2 years in prison in Albania, the Greek MEP Alfred ‘Fredis’ Beleris (EPP), who was elected MEP despite his imprisonment, was elected second Vice-Chair by acclamation, in the absence of other candidates for the post.
Due to the absence of Mr Beleris on Tuesday, the Greens/EFA group, through Ana Miranda Paz (Spanish), requested a secret ballot. However, the request did not receive the necessary support and was rejected by the new Chair of the PETI Committee.
The posts of third and fourth Vice-Chairs also went by acclamation to Nils Ušakovs (S&D, Latvian) and Cristina Guarda (Greens/EFA, Italian). (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)