On 23rd July Antonio Tajani was elected President of the Conference of Committee Chairs of the European Parliament. This political body which brings together the chairs of all of the committees, both permanent and special, in the European Parliament, coordinates the committees’ work and ensures their good cooperation. A. Tajani, former President of the European Parliament and now president of the Constitutional Affairs Committee was elected for a two and a half year mandate.

The group European Unitary Left/Nordic Green Left -GUE/NGL – elected its co-Presidents on 18th July. They are Manon Aubry and Martin Schirdewan, respectively affiliated to the parties France Insoumise (France Unbowed) and Die Linke (The Left) (Germany). The group’s four vice-Presidents are João Ferreira (Portugal), Marisa Matias (Portugal), Sira Rego (Espagne) Nikolaj Villumsen (Denmark).

On 18th July Slovakian Lucia Duris Nicholsonova, of the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) was elected Chair of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) of the European Parliament. The Committee had not yet elected its chair after the rejection of the candidature of former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, also of the ECR group.

The Vice-Chairs of the EMPL Committee have also been appointed: Vilija Blinkeviciute (Lithuania, S&D), Sandra Pereira (Portugal, GUE/NGL), Tomas Zdechovsky (Czech Republic, EPP) and Katrin Langensiepen (Germany, Greens/EFA).

On 17th July the European Members of Parliament approved  the list of the Parliament’s 44 interparliamentary delegations, and their composition. The delegations are responsible for maintaining parliamentary relations and the exchange of information with the States, regions and third organisations. The chairs and deputy-chairs of the delegations will be elected in September during the delegations’ constitutive meetings.

On 16th July the European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Ms von der Leyen won 383 votes, which is just slightly more than the absolute majority of 374 votes she needed to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker. Presently the German Defence Minister, Ms von der Leyen will be the first woman to occupy this post. She will enter office on 1st November for a mandate of five years. 

On 10th July the twenty committees and two permanent sub-committees at the European Parliament organised their constitutive meeting to elect their chairs and vice-chairs for a two and a half year mandate. The Constitutional Affairs, Cultural and Education, Regional Development, Agriculture and Rural Development, Civil Liberties, Justice and Internal Affairs Committees have not yet elected their vice-chairs. For its part the Employment and Social Affairs Committee will only elect its bureau at the next meeting.  puis la Belgique (trois, dont une sous-commission).With five chairs, Germany holds the greatest number of committee chairs, followed by France (four, including one sub-committee), then Belgium (three, including one sub-committee). Italy, the UK and Spain each have two chairs and Romania, Austria and Sweden one. The Identity and Democracy group did not win any chairs.

The 14 new Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament were elected on 3rd July for a two and a half year mandate. Members of 6 political groups and 10 Member States, the 14 Vice-Presidents are:  Mairead McGuinness (EPP, Irland), Pedro Silva Pereira (S&D, Portugal), Rainer Wieland (EPP, Germany), Katarina Barley (S&D, Germany), Othmar Karas (EPP, Austria), Ewa Bozena Kopacz (EPP, Poland), Klara Dobrev (S&D, Hungary), Dita Charanzova (Renew Europe, Czech Republic), Nicola Beer (Renew Europe, Germany), Livia Jaroka (EPP, Hungary), Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland), Marcel Kolaja (Greens/EFA, Czech Republic), Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL, Greece) and Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI, Italy).

The European Parliament’s five new quaestors were elected on 4th July for a two and a half year mandate. The five newly elected représentatives are : Anne Sander (EPP, France), Monika Benova (S&D, Slovakia), David Casa (EPP, Malta), Gilles Boyer (Renew Europe, France) and Karol Karski (ECR, Poland). The quaestors deal with the MEPs administrative business and form the Parliament’s Bureau with the President and the Vice-Presidents. This Bureau is now complete. 

On 3rd July MEPs elected David Sassoli President of the European Parliament for a two and a half year mandate until January 2022. He won 345 votes out of 667 cast in the second round. A member of the Italian Democratic Party and European Socialists and Democrats group, D. Sassoli has had a seat in Parliament since 2009. Three other MEPs were running for the position: German Ska Keller (Greens/EFA), Spaniard Sira Rego (GUE/NGL) and Czech Jan Zahradil (ECR). The EPP and Renew Europe groups did not put a candidate forward.

The 9th legislature of the European Parliament will be starting in Strasbourg on 2nd July. After the Ode to Joy, the 751 MEPs will prepare the election of the President of the Parliament, then that of the Vice-Presidents, planned for 3rd July. On 3rd July MEPs will adopt a decision regarding the number of members of the permanent parliamentary committees. On 4th July the questeurs will be elected prior to the debate with the Commission and the European Council regarding the results of the European Council on 20th and 21st June.