European Parliament
Incoming:
Edward CZESAK (ECR, PL) officially joined the Parliament as a member as of 11 June, replacing Andrzej DUDA, who elected President of Poland.
Outgoing:
Manolis GLEZOS (GUE/NGL, EL) announced that he is stepping down as MEP as of 8 July. Yannis MILIOS will replace him.
Substitutes of the Committees, Subcommittees and the Delegations:
Krzysztof HETMAN (EPP, PL) joined the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).
Ismail ERTUG (S&D, DE) joined the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (D-ACP).
Edward CZESAK (ECR, PL) joined the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
Tim AKER (EFDD, UK) joined the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL).
Political groups and parties:
Party of European Socialist (PES): Former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Sergei STANISHEV re-elected as President.
Formation of new political group: Marine LE PEN (FR) announced on Tuesday the creation of a new political group in the European Parliament. The far-right “Europe of Nations and Freedom” (ENL) meets the minimum number of MEPs (25) and countries (7) required and therefore it forms a political group with 36 (37 when a PVV member joins) members (France: 20, Austria: 4, Netherlands: 3 (+1 to join), Italy: 5, Poland: 2, Belgium: 1, UK: 1). The MEPs who became members of the ENF are as follow:
1. France, National Front (FN):
Louis ALLIOT
Marie-Christine ARNAUTU
Nicolas BAY
Dominique BILDE
Marie-Christine BOUTONNET
Steeve BRIOIS
Mireille D'ORNANO
Edouard FERRAND
Sylvie GODDYN
Jean-François JALKH
Gilles LEBRETON
Marine LE PEN (Co-chair)
Philippe LOISEAU
Dominique MARTIN
Joëlle MÉLIN
Bernard MONOT
Sophie MONTEL
Florian PHILIPPOT
Jean-Luc SCHAFFHAUSER
Mylène TROSZCZYNSKI
2. Austria, Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ):
Barbara KAPPEL
Georg MAYER
Franz OBERMAYR
Harald VILIMSKY (Vice-chair)
3. Poland, Congress of the New Right (KNP):
Michał MARUSIK (Vice-chair)
Stanisław ŻÓŁTEK
4. Italy, Northern League (LN):
Mara BIZZOTTO
Mario BORGHEZIO
Gianluca BUONANNO
Lorenzo FONTANA
Matteo SALVINI (Vice-chair)
5. Netherlands, Party for Freedom (PVV):
Marcel de GRAAFF (Co-chair)
Vicky MAEIJER
Olaf STUGER
Vacant
6. Belgium, Flemish Interest (VB):
Gerolf ANNEMANS (Treasurer)
7. UK, ex-UKIP:
Janice ATKINSON (Vice-chair)
The seat breakdown of the Parliament will look like as follow, when the vacancy of Hans JANSEN (NI, NL) will be filled by a VPP member.
Intergoups:
The European Parliament - Egypt Friendship Group was officially launched in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday 10 June. The group is comprised by 40 MEPs and is an initiative of:
Hans VAN BAALEN (ALDE, NL), President,
Eleni THEOCHAROUS (EPP, CY), Vice President
Victor BOŞTINARU (S&D, RO), Vice President and
Charles TANNOCK (ECR, UK), Vice President.
European Commission:
Cabinets:
Jonathan Hill’s team: Jack SCHICKLER is the new communication adviser.
Directorates-General:
Education and Culture (ECA) - Directorate A: Francesca PAGNOSSIN became the new acting Head of Erasmus + Programme coordination and National agencies management Unit, replacing Bernard NAUDTS.
Human Resources and Security (HR) - Directorate DS: Maresa MEISSL is the new Head of Informatics Security Unit, replacing Richard SONNENSCHEIN.
Trade (TRADE) - Directorate C: Helena KÖNIG became the new Director as of 16 June.
Directorate D: Sandra GALLINA (currently Head of Economic Partnership Agreements - African, Caribbean and Pacific, Overseas Countries and Territories Unit, Directorate D) appointed as Director as of 1 July.
Directorate F: Denis REDONNET became the new Director as of 16 June.
Directorate H: Leopoldo RUBINACCI (currently Head of Investment Unit, Directorate B) appointed as Director as of 1 September.
Spokesperson’s Service:
Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management: Daniel PUGLISI became the new Press Officer, replacing Irina NOVAKOVA.
Transport: Alexis PERIER is the new press officer.
What’s new: European Commission announced the creation of a Support Group for Structural Reform under the responsibility of Vice-President Dombrovskis that will be in charge of steering and coordinating support for growth-enhancing administrative and structural reforms and will be launched as of 1 July 2015. The composition of the staff will initially be made up of the Task Force for Greece and the Support Group for Cyprus, the mandates of which expire on 30 June. The new Group will be integrated into the Secretarial-General. A Director-General is to be appointed.
Committee of the Regions
Members:
Miguel Filipe MACHADO DE ALBUQUERQUE (EPP, PT) and Fernando MEDINA (PES, PT) joined.
Alberto João CARDOSO GONÇALVES JARDIM (EPP, PT), António Luís DOS SANTOS DA COSTA (PES, PT), Henri LENFERINK (PES, NL) and Onno HOES (ALDE, NL) left their positions.
Alternates:
Mário Sérgio Quaresma GONÇALVES MARQUES (EPP, PT) and Marcel PHILIPP (EPP, DE) are new alternates.
Court of Auditors
Bettina Michelle JAKOBSEN is a new member.
Public Affairs
The International Federation for Animal Health-Europe (IFAH-Europe): Christian BEHM, Head of Region Europe for Bayer Animal HealthCare GmbH elected as President.
American Chambers of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU): Jérôme BANDRY elected as Chair of the Transport, Energy and Climate Committee, Elke DUDEN re-elected Chair of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and Thomas REYNAERT re-elected Chair of the Security and Defence Committee.
Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI): Pierre MEULIEN named as the new Executive Director. Mr MEULIEN will take up his duties in Mid-September 2015.
CEMBUREAU, the European Cement Association: Daniel GAUTHIER elected as President for a two-year term, succeeding Peter HODDINOTT. Gonçalo SALAZAR LEITE, CEO of Secil elected as Vice-President for a two-year mandate as well.
News in a nutshell
Poland: Prime Minister Ewa KOPACZ, Civil Platform party (EPP) has nominated Andrzej CZERWIŃSKI for the post of Treasury Minister, replacing Włodzimierz KARPIŃSKI, Marian ZEMBALA for Health Minister, replacing Bartosz ARŁUKOWICZ and Andrzej BIERNAT for Minister for Sports, replacing Adam KOROL.
Romania: Prime Minister Victor PONTA, Social Democratic Party (S&D) survived a non-confidence vote amid corruption allegations against him.
Denmark: The opposition parties have beaten the governing centre-left coalition government. Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Social Democratic Party (S&D) conceded defeat and stood down as Prime Minister and party leader, although her party is the largest. The populist right-wing Danish People’s Party (ECR) of Kristian Thulesen Dahl becomes the second-largest party in the parliament and is about to play a key role in shaping the next government. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Liberal party (Venstre) (ALDE) is expected to become Denmark’s next leader, as DF has yet to say whether it would seek to join a right-wing government.