European Parliament Election: May 23-26, 2019

[Andrea]

GUE leadership

"João Ferreira (PCP, Portugal), Marisa Matias (Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal), Martin Schirdewan (DIE LINKE, Germany) and Nikolaj Villumsen (Red-Green Alliance, Denmark) will together lead the group of 41 MEPs, with Martin Schirdewan serving as acting President.

The group will assess the arrangement over the coming weeks with the aim of ensuring the strongest possible representation and voice for Left values in Europe and beyond."


I guess this means they still have to bargain between parties...

[Andrea]

Profiles of new MEPs now uploaded in Eu Parliament website

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home

EPP 182 MEPs
S&D 53
Renew 108
Greens/EFA 74
I&D 73
ECR 62
GUE 41
Not attached 55

I think it tallies to 748 with the 3 Spanish seats held by Catalans who can't go to swear in Madrid held vacant

[Andrea]

Nominations for EU Parliament president:

Ska KELLER (Greens, Germany)
Sira REGO (GUE, Spain)
David-Maria SASSOLI (S&D, Italy)
Jan ZAHRADIL (ECR, Czech Republic)


Elections to be held tomorrow

After 3 ballots, only top 2 will go to 4th ballot

[Andrea]

Nominations for EU Parliament president:

Ska KELLER (Greens, Germany)
Sira REGO (GUE, Spain)
David-Maria SASSOLI (S&D, Italy)
Jan ZAHRADIL (ECR, Czech Republic)


Elections to be held tomorrow

After 3 ballots, only top 2 will go to 4th ballot

No Stanishev (S&D, Bulgaria)?

Indeed. The EU Parliament president was supposed to be from Eastern European Socialists according to the "top jobs" package...but looks like S&D is angry enough tonight to ignore them.

[Andrea]

Round 1

Ska KELLER (Greens, Germany) 133 votes
Sira REGO (GUE, Spain) 42
David-Maria SASSOLI (S&D, Italy) 325
Jan ZAHRADIL (ECR, Czech Republic) 162

73 blanc or invalid

Majority required was 332

New ballot now

[Andrea]

Round 2

Ska KELLER (Greens, Germany) 119 (-14)
Sira REGO (GUE, Spain) 43 (+1)
David-Maria SASSOLI (S&D, Italy) 345 (+20)
Jan ZAHRADIL (ECR, Czech Republic) 160 (-2)

Sassoli is elected

[Andrea]

Result of first ballot for 14 Vice Presidents

331 required

Mairead McGUINNESS (Ireland, Fine Gael) 618 ELECTED
Rainer WIELAND (Germany, CDU) 516 ELECTED
Othmar KARAS (Austria, People's Party) 477 ELECTED
Ewa Bożena KOPACZ (Poland, Civic Platform) 461 ELECTED
Lívia JÁRÓKA (Hungary, Fidesz) 349 ELECTED

Pedro SILVA PEREIRA (Portugal, Socialists) 556 ELECTED
Katarina BARLEY (Germany, SDP) 516 ELECTED
Klara DOBREV (Hungary, Democratica Coalition) 402 ELECTED

Dita CHARANZOVÁ (Czech Republic, ANO) 395 ELECTED
Nicola BEER (Germany, FDP) 363 ELECTED

Heidi HAUTALA (Finland, Greens) 336 ELECTED
Marcel KOLAJA (Czech Rep, Pirates) 237

Laura HUHTASAARI (Finland, True Finns) 135
Mara BIZZOTTO (Italy, Lega) 130

Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI (Poland, Civic Platform) 169

Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS (Greece, Syrza) 303

Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy, 5 Stars) 143

3 still to be elected...

new ballot at 6.30 PM

[Andrea]

Second ballot for Vice Presidents

Marcel KOLAJA (Czech Rep, Pirates) 426 ELECTED

Laura HUHTASAARI (Finland, True Finns) WITHDRAWN
Mara BIZZOTTO (Italy, Lega) 142

Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI (Poland, Civic Platform) 261

Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS (Greece, Syrza) 401 ELECTED

Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (Italy, 5 Stars) 284


Still one to be elected

Sassoli proposes an electronic vote. ID disagrees. Somebody else is in favour. They vote on how to vote. Electronic vote wins.

One MEP asks for a technical break of 10 minutes. Sassoli gives a 5 minutes break


And the 5 Stars guy wins leaving out ECR and I&D.

[Andrea]

Parliamentary Committee Chairs elected this afternoon



Foreign Affairs:  David McAllister (Germany, CDU)

Agriculture and Rural Development: Norbert Lins (Germany, CDU) defeats Maxette Pirbakas (France, RN)

Budgets:  Johan Van Overtveldt (Belgium, NVA) 

Culture and Education: Sabine Verheyen (Germany, CDU)

Development:  Tomas Tobé (Sweden, Moderates)

Economic and Monetary Affairs:  Roberto Gualtieri (Italy, PD)

Employment and Social Affairs: post-poned  Beata Szydlo (Poland, Law and Justice) is rejected 27 to 21 votes.

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety:  Pascal Canfin (France, LREM) 

Internal Market and Consumer Protection: Petra De Sutte (Belgium, Greens) 

International Trade:  Bernd Lange  (Germany, SPD) 

Industry, Research and Energy: Adina-Ioana Vălean (Romania, National Liberal Party)

Legal Affairs: Lucy Nethsingha (UK, LibDems) defeats Gilles Lebreton (France, RN) 15 to 6 votes

Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs:  Juan F López Aguilar (Spain, PSOE) 

Regional Development: Younous Omarjee (France, La France Insoumise) 

Transport and Tourism:  Karima Delli (France, Greens) 

Constitutional Affairs: Antonio Tajani (Italy, Forza Italia)

Fisheries: Chris Davies (UK, Libdems)

Petitions:  Dolors Montserrat (Spain, PP)

Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: Evelyn Regner (Austria, SDP)

Budgetary Control:Isabel García Muñoz (Spain, PSOE)

Human Rights (Subcommittee):  Marie Arena (Belgium, Parti Socialiste)

Security and Defence (Subcommittee): Nathalie Loiseau (France, LREM)

[Andrea]

In the Employment and Social Affairs committee, S&D asked for a secret vote. EPP opposed and reminded to respect the agreement based on De Hondt. Renew Europe backed the secret ballot.

Vice-Chairs

Committee on Foreign Affairs
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Witold Jan WASZCZYKOWSKI (ECR, PL)
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected at a forthcoming meeting

Subcommittee on Security and Defence
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Nikos ANDROULAKIS (S&D, EL)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Kinga GÁL (EPP, HU). Secret ballot: 17 in favour, 8 against
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Özlem DEMIREL (GUE/NGL, DE)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Lukas MANDL (EPP, AT)


Subcommittee on Human Rights
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Irina VON WIESE (Renew Europe, UK)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Hannah NEUMANN (GREENS/EFA, DE)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Karoline EDTSTADLER (EPP, AT)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Raphaël GLUCKSMANN (S&D, FR)

Committee on Development
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Pierrette HERZBERGER-FOFANA (Greens/EFA, DE)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Norbert NEUSER (S&D, DE)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Chrysoula ZACHAROPOULOU (Renew Europe, FR)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Erik MARQUARDT (Greens/EFA, DE)

Committee on International Trade
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Jan ZAHRADIL (ECR, CZ)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Iuliu WINKLER (EPP, RO)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Anna-Michelle ASIMAKOPOULO (EPP, EL)
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Marie-Pierre VEDRENNE (Renew Europe, FR)

Committee on Budgets
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Janusz LEWANDOWSKI (EPP, PL)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Olivier CHASTEL (Renew Europe, BE)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Margarida MARQUES (S&D, PT)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Niclas HERBST (EPP, DE)

Committee on Budgetary Control
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Isabel GARCÍA MUÑOZ (S&D, ES)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Caterina CHINNICI (S&D, IT). She beats Matteo Adinolfi (ID, IT) by 18 to 7
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Martina DLABAJOVÁ (Renew Europe, CZ)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Tamás DEUTSCH (EPP, HU). Elected in secret ballot by 11 votes to 6 with 3 abstentions

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Luděk NIEDERMAYER (EPP, CZ)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Stephanie YON-COURTIN (Renew Europe, FR)
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr Derk Jan EPPINK (ECR, NL)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr José GUSMÃO (GUE/NGL, PT)

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Seb DANCE (S&D, UK)
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr Cristian-Silviu BUŞOI (EPP, RO)
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Anja HAZEKAMP (GUE/NGL, NL)

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI (ECR, PL)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Morten PETERSEN (RE, DK)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Patrizia TOIA (S&D, IT)
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Lina GALVEZ MUÑOZ (S&D, ES)

Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Pierre KARLESKIND (Renew Europe, FR)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Maria GRAPINI (S&D, RO)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Róża THUN (EPP, PL)
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Maria Manuel LEITÃO MARQUES (S&D, PT)

Committee on Transport and Tourism
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Johan DANIELSSON (S&D, SE)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Sven SCHULZE (EPP, DE)
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr István UJHELYI (S&D, HU)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Jan-Christoph OETJEN (Renew Europe, DE)

Committee on Regional Development
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Krzysztof HETMAN (EPP, PL)
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected at a forthcoming meeting

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Francisco GUERREIRO (Greens/EFA, PT). He beats Maxette Pirbakas (ID, FR) 38 to 6
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Daniel BUDA (EPP, RO)  He beats Maxette Pirbakas (ID, FR) 37 to 7
The 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected in a forthcoming meeting

Committee on Fisheries
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Peter van DALEN (EPP, NL)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Søren GADE (Renew Europe, DK)
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr Giuseppe Ferrandino (S&D, IT)
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Cláudia MONTEIRO DE AGUIAR (EPP, PT). She beats Rosanna CONTE (ID, IT) 19 to 8

Committee on Culture and Education
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Romeo FRANZ (Greens/EFA, DE)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Dace MELBĀRDE (ECR, LV)
The 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected in a forthcoming meeting

Committee on Legal Affairs
1st Vice-Chair: Mr Sergey LAGODINSKY (Greens/EFA, DE). 17 votes in favour, 4 against
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Marion WALSMANN (EPP, DE). 18 votes to 4
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr Ibán GARCIA DEL BLANCO (S&D, ES). 17 to 4
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Raffaele STANCANELLI (ECR, IT). 14 to 8

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA (RE, ES)
2nd Vice-Chair: Mr Pietro BARTOLO (S&D, IT)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Emil RADEV (EPP, BG)
The 3rd Vice-Chair will be elected in a forthcoming meeting

Committee on Constitutional Affairs
1st Vice-Chair: Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, DE). She beats  Gerolf Annemans (ID, BE) 17 to 8
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected at a forthcoming meeting

Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP (GUE/NGL, ES)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Gwendoline DELBOS-CORFIELD (Greens/EFA, FR)
3rd Vice-Chair: Ms Elissavet VOZEMBERG-VRIONIDI (EPP, EL)
4th Vice-Chair: Mr Robert BIEDROŃ (S&D, PL)

Committee on Petitions
1st Vice-Chair: Ms Tatjana ŽDANOKA (GREENS/EFA, LV)
2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Yana TOOM (Renew Europe, EE)
3rd Vice-Chair: Mr Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL).  Elected with 18 votes in favour, 10 against.
4th Vice-Chair: Ms Cristina MAESTRE MARTÍN DE ALMAGRO (S&D, ES)

[Andrea]

There needs to be some sort of compromise. However that does not mean that every compromise is good. The ECR should probably be accomodated to a large extent and the cordon sanitaire against them dropped (and same for GUE/NGL on the left, though they are quite irrelevant now). The ENF (now ID group) though? Not so much

ID MEPs have been blocked for all parliamentary positions so far.

ECR didn't get one of the Parliament's Vice Presidency with a candidate of PiS. However, the next day they were unopposed for one of the Quaestor slots with another PiS candidate.

Beata Szydlo has been opposed twice for the Employment committee chair.
But NVA candidate got the Budget committee chair unopposed.
Also they got some vice-chairs: PiS x3 (including the candidate who didn't get the Parliament Vice Presidency), Czech ODS, Netherlands' Forum for Democracy, Latvia's National Alliance, Brothers of Italy. All unopposed except one PiS.

GUE/NGL has got all positions they put a candidate forward for (therefore, those they were entitled based on De Hondt distribution): one Pariiament Vice President (Syrza), one committee chair (for a La France Insoumise MEP), some commitee vice chairs (Die Linke, Portugal's Bloco de Esquerda, Dutch Party for Animals, Podemos).

[Andrea]

Parliamentary Committee Chairs elected this afternoon




Employment and Social Affairs: post-poned  Beata Szydlo (Poland, Law and Justice) is rejected 27 to 21 votes.

Third time lucky...after two rejections of Szydlo, ECR proposed Lucia Nicholsonová (Slovakia, Freedom and Solidarity) this time. She won the vote 38 to 14 with 3 abstention.

1st Vice Chair: Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (Social Democrats, Lithuania)
2nd Vice Chair: Sandra Pereira (Communist Party, Portugal)
3rd Vice Chair: Tomáš Zdechovský (Czech Republic, Christian and Democratic Union)
4th Vice Chair: Katrin Langensiepen (Greens, Germany)