http://thenewep.com Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:07:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 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 ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-17/the-committees-take-shape-and-meps-prepare-for-a-break/ 1145 update: The Parliament has now elected its 14 vice-presidents, with some controversy. Instead of what is usually a confirmation of agreements between political Groups, there was a political battle between 15 candidates that went to three secret ballots. The 'additional' candidate, Edward McMillan-Scott, who had already declared himself "uncomfortable" with the ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-15/mcmillan-scott-defies-group-to-take-ep-vice-president-post/ As expected, Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) has been elected as President of the European Parliament on Tuesday morning (by 555 votes to 89). EuroparlTV looks at the man who will chair the assembly for the next two-and-a-half years: http://thenewep.com/2009-07-14/jerzy-buzek-elected-as-ep-president/ The German SPD delegation met last night to decide on who will be the Chair of the environment committee for this parliament. It confirmed that Jo Leinen will be Chair of the committee for the first two-and-a-half years of the parliament. Matthias Groote (also Socialists & Democrats, Germany) will take the ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-14/leinen-confirmed-as-envi-chair/ 1630 update: Latest news on the EP committee Chairs appears on our 'Key positions' page - with the latest update of the list of committee and delegation Chairs as follows (note that with negotiations ongoing, nothing will be confirmed until the committees hold their constituent meetings on 16 July in Strasbourg ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-10/ep-committee-chairs-update/ The European Voice reported this morning that German MEPs have taken control of the Parliament's legislative committees - but that is only half the story. Have the Socialists & Democrats pulled off something of a coup in their choice of committees? If you look at co-decision legislation passed in the ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-09/socialists-democrats-in-control-of-legislation/ Having (almost) decided on the split of committees and nomination of Chairs, the European Parliament's committees will begin work next week in Strasbourg, and continue in Brussels on 20 July. The timing of the constituent meetings are as follows, with three meetings taken place simultaneously in Strasbourg, and four in Brussels: Thursday ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-09/committees-to-set-to-work-next-week/ Last update at 1730: The leaders of the European Parliament’s political Groups and national delegations have been meeting in Brussels in the week beginning 6 July to negotiate who will take Chairs of the Parliament’s committees. As expected, the EPP are likely to keep foreign affairs – probably for Italian Mario Mauro, ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-09/groups-nominate-committee-chairs/ From Commissioners and ministers to models and television presenters, the new European Parliament features a range of personalities. You can find short profiles of a selection of the new (and returning) MEPs on the 'Who's Who - the new MEPs' page. http://thenewep.com/2009-07-08/whos-who-a-look-at-the-personalities-in-the-new-ep/ With Graham Watson, the Liberal candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament, deciding to withdraw from the race on the morning of the EP Presidential Debate, Jerzy Buzek (EPP) and Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL) were quizzed on their plans on Wednesday 8 July in the only public debate to be ... http://thenewep.com/2009-07-08/ep-presidential-debate-live-twitter-commentary/