The New European Political Landscape and Institutions 2014-2019
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Nr.8 November 2014 THE NEW EUROPEAN POLITICAL LANDSCAPE AND INSTITUTIONS 2014-2019 RESULTS OF THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: HOW NEW European election results in a historical context: FRAGMENTISM WILL CHANGE PARLIAMENT’S WORK The elections for the 751 (previously 766) seats of the European Parliament were held in May 2014 (see full results in graphs 1 and 2). Most parties suffered losses, except for the radical left, conservatives and eurosceptics who gained votes. The centre right (EPP) remains the strongest party since 1999. Conserva- tives (ECR, originally founded by British Tories) has become the third biggest political group, bigger than the liberals (ALDE). The radical left (GUE-NGL) surpassed the greens. Due to the new political fragmentation it will become increas- IIIIIIIIIIII Radical left IIIIIIIIIIII Socialists IIIIIIIIIIII Greens & Reg. ingly difficult to reach a predictable majority (376 Members of IIIIIIIIIIII Greens IIIIIIIIIIII non-attached IIIIIIIIIIII Liberals Parliament (MEPs)). A “great coalition” of centre right (EPP) and IIIIIIIIIIII Centre Right IIIIIIIIIIII Forza Europa IIIIIIIIIIII Conservatives socialists (S&D) would reach around 410. However, considering IIIIIIIIIIII Eurosceptics IIIIIIIIIIII UEN IIIIIIIIIIII F a r R i g h t the “classical” coalitions amongst political families, neither the centre right (EPP), conservatives (ECR) and liberals (ALDE) com- Graph 2 / Source: Wikipedia.org bined, nor socialists (S&D), radical left (GUE-NGL) and greens combined can reach a “right of centre” or “left of centre” major- EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT AND POLITICAL GROUPS ity. Consequently, the EPP and S&D have announced that they Martin Schulz (S&D, DE) was re-elected as President of the Par- will cooperate more closely than before, but there will be no for- liament for 2½ years, and similarly to previous parliaments, it is mal great coalition. expected that a member of the centre right (EPP) will take over The impact of this new political fragmentation, greater number as President after his term. There are 14 Vice Presidents. There of eurosceptics and greater strength of the conservatives is not will be 7 political groups: possible to assess yet. It may result in either longer and more • EPP - European People’s Party/Centre Right, 221 difficult discussions, or more pragmatic positions and coalitions. members, chaired by Manfred Weber (DE) Martin Schulz was re-elected as EP President for the next 2½ • S&D - Socialists and Democrats, 191 members, chaired by years; two outgoing Vice Presidents of the Barroso Commission, Gianni Pittella (IT) Antonio Tajani (EPP), Italy – former Commissioner for Enterprise • ECR - European Conservatives and Reformists, 70 and Industry and Olli Rehn (ALDE), Finland – former Commis- members, chaired by Syed Kamall (UK) now third biggest sioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, were elected as two of group in place of the liberals the fourteen EP Vice Presidents. • ALDE - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, 67 members, chaired by Guy Verhofstadt (BE) The results by political group: • GUE/NGL - United Left, 52 members, chaired by Gabriele Zimmer (DE) and now stronger than the Greens • GREENS/EFA, 50 members co-chaired by Philippe Lamberts (BE) and Rebecca Harms (DE) • EFDD - Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy – Eurosceptic and right wing, 48 members, co-chaired by Nigel Farage (UKIP) (UK) and David Borrelli (5 star movement) (IT) • Some movements labelled “non-attached” (NI) in 2014 will join parties. THE PARLIAMENT COMMITTEES (WORKING BODIES) The new Parliament still has 20 standing committees, consisting of 28 to 86 members each. Each of the committees and the two subcommittees have one Chair and 4 Vice Chairs. The commit- IIIIIIIIIIII Radical Left (GUE-NGL/52) IIIIIIIIIIII Socialists (S&D/191) tees are the bodies discussing the details of future legislation. IIIIIIIIIIII Greens (50) IIIIIIIIIIII Liberals (ALDE/67) IIIIIIIIIIII Centre Right (EPP/221) The most interesting ones for the taps and valves industry are: IIIIIIIIIIII Conservatives (ECR/70) IIIIIIIIIIII Eurosceptics and Right (EFDD/48) • Industry, Research and Energy - ITRE: chaired by Jerzy IIIIIIIIIIII non-attached (NI/52) Buzek (EPP, Poland) Graph 1 / Source: Wikipedia.org • Internal Market and Consumer Protection - IMCO: chaired by Vicky Ford (ECR, UK) The European Association for the Taps and Valves Industry - www.ceir.eu - November 2014 Nr.8 CEIR GAZETTE • Environment, Public Health and Food Safety - ENVI: former Members of the European Parliament. 11 of these have chaired by Giovanni La Via (EPP, IT) (previously chair of an economic and finance background, while 8 have foreign re- the Agriculture Committee) lations experience. • International Trade - INTA: chaired by Bernd Lange (S&D, The organigram of the European Commission (see graph 3) has DE) been significantly reformed, in an attempt to focus on the EU’s • Legal Affairs - JURI: chaired by Pavel Svoboda (EPP, political priorities, create more synergies and flexibility on fu- newly elected, CZ) ture EU policies, and move away from the former perceived • Economic and Monetary Affairs - ECON: chaired by “technocratic” structure. Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, IT) The new College will have 7 Vice-Presidents (6 in addition to November 2014 • Transport and Tourism - TRAN: chaired by Michael the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Policy and Cramer (Greens, DE) Security Policy - Federica Mogherini), each leading a so- called project team. These project teams are meant to re- A NEW EUROPEAN EXECUTIVE: flect the President’s announced priorities. Commissioners PRAGMATISM TO ADAPT TO EUROPE’S PRIORITIES will need to have the support of the Vice-Presidents to bring On 15 July, during the second plenary session of the newly legislative initiatives to life. There is a clear attempt to fa- elected European Parliament, the European Council nominee vour focused, coherent and across-the-board policy-making, for the Commission Presidency, former Luxembourg Prime which has been supported by many industry and other sectors Minister Jean Claude Juncker, was elected. Informal consul- in recent years. tations with the Member States on the allocation of the Com- The first Vice President, Frans Timmermans (S&D, NL) is con- mission portfolios ended on 31 July, and the list of Commis- sidered as the right-hand of Commission President Juncker, sioners and their portfolios was published on 10 September. and is responsible for the ‘Better Regulation’ agenda, thereby The candidates-designate went through heated parliamentary having a broader coordination and steering role over the whole hearings until beginning mid-October, and the Parliament fi- College of Commissioners. As stated in the Commission’s press nally approved the College as a whole on October 22. The Com- release announcing the new College, “the aim is also to ensure mission took office on 1 November. that every Commission proposal is truly required and that the Commission President Juncker announced the broader po- aims cannot best be achieved by Member States”. It remains to litical guidelines of the new Commission, which is to focus on be seen if this promises a true assessment of the need for new tackling the big political challenges in Europe today: gener- legislation, or a mere shift towards Member States, translating ate more employment, motivate more investments, reinstate in less harmonisation under the cover of subsidiarity. an economy-based banking system, create a connected digital A number of Commission Directorates General (DGs) have market, and eliminate Europe’s dependence on energy. been merged, including some of significant relevance for taps The proposed Commission includes 5 former Prime Ministers, and valves industry, in order to facilitate a more integrated ap- 4 Deputy Prime Ministers, 7 returning Commissioners and 8 proach to areas with cross-cutting objectives: Source: EC - 2 - The European Association for the Taps and Valves Industry - www.ceir.eu - November 2014 CEIR GAZETTE Nr.8 • New Vice President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness is asked to prepare a Jobs, Growth and we receive enquiries from across Europe and beyond on Investment Package within the first three months of the a daily basis. It’s great to see that this entirely voluntary new Commission label is regarded a powerful tool which is simple and hon- • New Internal Market (ex-DG MARKT), Industry (ex-DG est and low cost.” ENTR), Entrepreneurship and SME portfolio (Elzbieta A recent report from WRAP, part of DEFRA, the UK’s Bienkowska - PL) aims to be “the engine house of the real Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, economy” showed the results of their consumer testing of the label. • One Commissioner (Miguel Arias Cañete - ESP) for both The report showed the consumer attitudes to, and pur- Climate Action (ex-DG CLIMA) and Energy Policy (ex-DG chase behaviour around, water efficient bathroom fittings November 2014 Energy) has a clear policy line: strengthening the share of and the European Water Label. renewable energies is both climate change and industrial The report concluded that water efficiency has the poten- policy. tial to exert a ‘point of sale’ influence on purchase choic- • The Environment portfolio has been merged with es. There are two distinct parts to this conclusion. Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (Karmenu Vella - MLT): Firstly, and on its own, water efficiency appears to be a “protecting the environment and maintaining our com- mid-ranking influence that could have a substantial sway petitiveness have to go hand-in-hand; both are about a on purchase decisions but only in a relatively constrained sustainable future” set of circumstances, where the main considerations such • Consumer Policy is combined with Gender and Justice as style, design, and price are similar and where water ef- for Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender ficiency can act as a differentiator. Equality (Vera Jourová CZ) Secondly, the potential influence of water efficiency can • The Digital Economy and Society portfolio under former be increased by association with other motivations, par- Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger (D) sees a ticularly the ‘first order’ considerations (i.e.