The committees take shape… and MEPs prepare for a break
Twelve of the European Parliament’s committees held their constituent sessions on Thursday, with the remaining committees meeting on Monday. With the Parliament having adopted its decision on the numerical strength of committees, and the political Groups having decided on which members will sit on which committee, the Parliament now has a full list of members and substitutes online.
Other positions, such as Group coordinators, will be decided by Groups either next week or after the summer break. The EPP has already chosen coordinators for the foreign affairs committee (Elmar Brok and José Ignacio Salafrance Sanchez-Neyra), the environment committee (Peter Liese and Richard Seeber, with Elisabetta Gardini as ‘vice-coordinator’), the industry committee (Pilar Del Castillo) and the legal affairs committee (Tadeusz Zwiefka). Diana Wallis will be the Liberals’ coordinator on the legal affairs committee.
Normally, there should be only one coordinator per Group per committee, so it remains to be seen whether the other Groups will challenge the EPP’s choice for the foreign affairs and environment committees.
After the constituent meetings have been completed, new MEPs will take a break after a summer of campaigning, elections and negotiations. They return on 24 August to begin their legislative and political work in the new Parliament.