Recent Developments at the European Parliament

June 23, 2009

I. AT THE POLITICAL GROUP LEVEL

1) Group meetings

Political groups held several meetings at different levels over the past several days, notably political group Presidencies (President and Vice-Presidents), heads of the national delegations, and national delegations (e.g. German CDU-CSU, French UMP). The newly elected MEPs attended group meetings for the first time last week, accompanied by the ‘former’ MEPs who are still officially in function until July 13. Among other developments: o 21 Italian Democrats finally decided to join the PES, which now has 183 members. Consequently, the PES will now be known as the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (PASD). o On June 22, the British Conservatives officially announced the creation of a new political group named European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Composed of 55 MEPs from eight countries (26 British, 15 Poles, 9 Czechs, one Belgian, one Finnish, one Hungarian, one Latvian, and one Dutch), this group will become the fourth largest political (after the EPP, PASD and the ALDE). More political group meetings are to be held this week: Both the EPP and the PASD will elect their Chairs and vice-Chairs today and ALDE will hold its elections next week (June 30). In addition, political groups will discuss inter-group relations and perspectives on the new European Commission.

2) Political Group Presidents

EPP President: This issue was not discussed at the EPP Group meeting. It appears that Joseph Daul has no official opponent for the election that will take place today and is likely to be reelected EPP President; PASD President: The PES mini-summit recommended that Martin Schulz be reelected President of the newly rebranded Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats; ALDE President: The situation is not clear at this stage. Guy Verhofstadt has a good chance of being elected, however Diana Wallis has also led a strong campaign; European Conservatives and Reformists President: Timothy Kirkhope is the likely choice of President for this newly-formed party; Greens President: The existing co-presidency system is likely to continue. As Monica Frassoni was not elected, Daniel Cohn-Bendit is considering a German partner (from Die Linke).

3) EP President

Which coalition? At this stage, no official decision has been made; however it appears that a coalition between EPP/ALDE is becoming difficult for two reasons. First, it is still unclear who the ALDE President will be; second, the EPP was offended by Graham Watson’s proposal to have a coalition ALDE/PASD (ex PES), leaving the EPP outside the deal. A possible coalition between EPP/PASD will depend on the position the PASD adopts towards Barroso; without an agreement on the Commission Presidency, the EPP is unlikely to agree on the Parliament Presidency. The EP President is due to be elected on July 14. Which EPP candidate? Both Jerzy Buzek (Polish) and Mario Mauro (Italian) are still competing to be the EPP candidate for EP President. According to our information, Mr Buzek is the most likely candidate. First, his candidacy has raised much broader support and it would give a very positive signal to the Eastern countries. Second, it appears that Silvio Berlusconi would be willing to swap support for Mauro in return for an Italian becoming the High Representative for Foreign Affairs (in particular Franco Frattini, former Commissioner.) However, Carl Bildt, the Swedish Foreign Minister, is considered to be the front runner for this position. The EPP will take the final decision on its Presidency candidate on July 7.

4) Heads of Delegations

Some delegations designated their heads last week. In particular, Werner Langen and Markus Ferber for the German CDU-CSU; Michel Barnier for the French UMP; Catherine Trautmann for the French Socialists; and Jacek Saryusz-Wolski for the EPP Poles. In addition, Jaime Mayor-Oreja looks likely to be reelected as head of the Spanish Conservatives delegation. 5) The Commission President

On July 9, the European Parliament (through the Conference of Presidents) will decide if it will vote to approve José-Manuel Barroso. The vote was initially scheduled for July 15, but the PASD, the Greens and the ALDE are seeking postponement until the Lisbon Treaty enters into force. Significantly, the PASD and the Greens have announced that in the event that the vote takes place on July 15, they will refuse to confirm Barroso. Negotiations between parties have begun to postpone the vote and to shore up support for Barroso. Last week, the European Liberal Party (ELDR) announced its clear support for Barroso’s reappointment.

II. NEGOTIATIONS REGARDING COMMITTEE POSITIONS HAVE BEGUN

Discussions regarding the composition of parliamentary committees have already started, and will continue at least until the end of the month: The discussions will take place first within the national delegations and the political parties and then proceed to negotiations among the political groups. The choice of committee chairs is based on the d’Hondt procedure which allocates the committee chairs to groups/national delegations according to their size. Technically, each delegation is allotted a total number of points depending on its size (the bigger the group, the more points it has). Each position equates to a certain number of points. As the largest delegation of the biggest Group, the Germans get first choice. According to our sources, the EPP should win nine committee chair positions (up from eight), the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (PASD) six (down from seven), the ALDE three (no change), and the Greens/EFA one. Both the UEN and he GUE/NGL could lose their committee chairs; in contrast, the ECR could win one.

The EPP’s Allocation: o The Germans: The fact that Hans-Gert Pöttering is stepping down from the EP Presidency may enable the Germans to have three committee chairs (up from two – ITRE and BUDG). While Angelika Niebler will no longer chair ITRE, Reimer Böge could remain the chair of BUDG. Klaus-Heiner Lehne has a good chance of chairing JURI. o The Italians: Given their number of seats, the Italians could have one or two chairs. o The French: As Joseph Daul is likely to be elected Chairman of the EPP (a points-heavy position), the French delegation is not left with many further opportunities. The French would like to chair an important committee and are likely to negotiate with the Germans for the BUDG chair for Alain Lamassoure. It has also been reported that the French may try to secure the ENVI or IMCO chair positions; however this seems unlikely. o The Poles: Given that Jerzy Buzek is likely to be elected President of the European Parliament, the Poles will probably lose the only committee they chaired (AFET - Jacek Saryusz-Wolski). The Polish delegation is predominantly interested in AFET, REGI and CULT. They will probably have a Vice-Presidency either at the Group or at the EP level. The PASD’s Allocation: o In the last Parliamentary term, the Socialists chaired DEVE, CONT, ECON, EMPL, IMCO, CULT and AFCO. They are likely to lose an important committee like IMCO or ECON, unless they are able to negotiate with the EPP. The Austrian (CONT), the Greek (CULT) and the Swedish (EMPL) Socialists are likely to lose their chairs; In contrast, the Romanian and Portuguese delegations are likely to each win a chair position. The ALDE’s Allocation: o In the last Parliamentary term, the Liberals chaired TRAN, LIBE and PECH. While the Italians are likely to keep one chair, the French and the Belgians will probably each lose one. In contrast, both the Germans (as a result of their doing well at the polls), and the British will possibly gain one chair each. The new ECR, the Greens/EFA, the UEN, and the GUE/NGL Allocations: o In the last Parliamentary term, the GUE/NGL chaired INTA and the UEN, PETI. According to our sources, both the GUE/NGL and the UEN could lose their chairs; in contrast, the ECR and the Greens could likely gain one each.

III. BARROSO

Unsurprisingly, the European Council agreed unanimously on José-Manuel Barroso “as the person they intend to nominate as President of the European Commission”. However, as yet, he has not been formally nominated. The outgoing Czech and incoming Swedish Presidencies will discuss this with the European Parliament in order to ascertain whether the EP is in a position to approve the Council’s nomination at its July plenary session (which, as described above, may be unlikely). Based on these discussions, the Council will then formalize its decision on the nomination. Barroso set out his programme in a June 17 letter to the 27 EU leaders. In the letter, Barroso underlined that if he was reappointed, he would “take this as a mandate to implement the ambitious political vision Europe needs for the next five years”, including:

o A competitive Europe that “puts opportunity, responsibility and solidarity at the heart of a social market economy”, using the potential of the internal market, based on a competitive and high-added value economy.

o Planning for the future/climate change, via a Europe that “paves the way for smarter, greener and more sustainable growth”, “keeps world leadership” in coping with climate change, develops a low carbon economy and defends energy security. o And, finally, sound financial regulation: Barroso also promises to “continue to lead the drive towards effective regulation and supervision of global financial markets, shaping globalisation with our own values.” Barroso has suffered a damaging defeat: We can draw three lessons from the European Council decision: o First, notwithstanding Barrosos’s wish to be nominated as soon as possible, the Heads of States and Governments have refused to do so. In particular, it appears that France and Germany wanted to keep pressure on him to negotiate better Commissioners’ portfolios and other high-ranking European positions; o Second, his defeat was underscored by the European Council’s decision to leave it to the European Parliament to decide whether the vote will be held in July or in the Autumn; o Third, whatever the outcome will be, Barroso’s future position has been considerably weakened.

If you have any questions concerning the material discussed here please contact: Lisa Peets +44.(0)20.7067.2031 [email protected] David Harfst 32.2.549.5251 [email protected] Wim van Velzen 32.2.549.5230 [email protected]

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