After weeks of horse trading among the political groups and national delegations, MEPs yesterday (16 July) selected the men and women who are going to lead legislative work in the European Parliament's eighth legislature since the first elections thirty years ago.
Italy wins big, France and Germany follow
Possibly as a trade-off for having lost the Parliament's presidency and being the second largest delegation in the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the political family that won the elections in June, Italy was given control of the highest number of committees, followed by France and Germany. A large number of vice-chairs are also Italian, and include Berlusconi's protegée, Barbara Matera, who was elected vice-chair of the women's rights and gender equality committee.
Centre-right grabs all key economic portfolios
Clearly, the economic committees have shifted to the centre-right. The Parliament's third-largest group, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE), has managed to secure control of the two parliamentary committees, which will be key in dealing with the economic and financial crisis.
German Liberal MEP Wolf Klinz will chair a special committee on the crisis, while British MEP Sharon Bowles will chair the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON).
The largest political group, the European People's Party (EPP), will head the other two committees relevant for the European economy: UK Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour has been elected to lead the internal market and consumer protection committee (IMCO) and German Christian Democrat Herbert Reul will chair the industry committee (ITRE).
Also in the EPP camp, the budget committee, which will be chaired by French member Alain Lamassoure. Meanwhile, budgetary control will be lead by Italian ALDE MEP Luigi De Magistris.
In a last-minute change, MEP Mario Mauro, who had been the leading candidate to head the foreign affairs committee since his withdrawal from the presidency race, decided to pull out and will head the Italian delegation, possibly to keep his options open as he is eying the Italian commissioner's job, sources said in Strasbourg.
Italy nonetheless maintained the seat and the chairmanship went to Gabriele Albertini, a former mayor of Milan. The foreign affairs committee (AFET), which is one of the institution's most prestigious posts, has limited power under the Treaties, however.
The Social Democrats secured more traditional centre-left portfolios, like environment, social affairs and civil liberties. Pervenche Berès, a French socialist, will head the employment and social affairs committee (EMPL), while German S&D MEP Jo Leinen was elected chair of the environment committee (ENVI).
Elected and to-be elected chairs on Monday (those marked with *):
| Committee |
|
Chairman/Chairwoman |
| AFET | Foreign Affairs | Gabriele ALBERTINI (Italy; EPP) |
| DROI | Human Rights | Heidi HAUTALA* (Finland; Greens) |
| SEDE | Security and Defence | Arnaud DANJEAN* (France; EPP) |
| DEVE | Development | Eva JOLY* (France; Greens) |
| INTA | International Trade | Vital Moreira (S&D, Portugal) |
| BUDG | Budget | Alain LAMASSOURE (France; EPP) |
| CONT | Budgetary Control | Luigi de MAGISTRIS* (Italy; ALDE) |
| ECON | Economic and Monetary Affairs | Sharon BOWLES (United Kingdom; ALDE) |
| EMPL | Employment and Social Affairs | Pervenche BERES (France; S&D) |
| ENVI | Environment, Public Health and Food Safety | Jo LEINEN (Germany; S&D) |
| ITRE | Industry, Research and Energy | Herbert REUL (Germany; EPP) |
| IMCO | Internal Market and Consumer Protection | Malcolm HARBOUR (United Kingdom; ECR) |
| TRAN | Transport and Tourism | Brian SIMPSON* (United Kingdom; S&D) |
| REGI | Regional Development | Danuta HÜBNER* (Poland; EPP) |
| AGRI | Agriculture and Rural Development | Paolo DE CASTRO* (Italy; S&D) |
| CULT | Culture and Education | Doris PACK *(Germany; EPP) |
| JURI | Legal Affairs | Klaus-Heiner LEHNE (Germany; EPP) |
| LIBE | Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs | Fernando LOPEZ AGUILAR (Spain; S&D) |
| AFCO | Constitutional Affairs | Carlo Casini (Italy; EPP) |
| FEMM | Women's Rights and Gender Equality | Eva-Britt Svensson (GUE/NGL, Sweden) |
| PETI | Petitions | Erminia Mazzoni (Italy, EPP) |
| Temporary Committe on the economic crisis | Wolf KLINZ (ALDE, Germany) | |
| Temporary Committe on budget reform | TBC | |
| Other key posts | ||
| EU-China delegation | Graham WATSON (United Kingdom; ALDE) | |
| EU-ACP delegation | Louis MICHEL (Belgium; ALDE) | |
Italian MEP calls for committee to fight the mafia
Newly-elected MEP Rosario Crocetta, mayor of the city of Gela in Sicily, who has been living under strict police protection in Italy and abroad since 2002, has asked the Parliament's president to set up a new committee to fight mafias across Europe.
The S&D MEP said that nowadays there are so many criminal and mafia groups being formed in other European countries that their interconnection with the financial, entrepreneurial and political systems needed to be addressed.
