Today's Movers & Shakers are about: a new MEP, latest appointments in the European Commission and public affairs, ministerial appointments in Poland and Denmark, the Bee week, Brexit and more.
European Parliament:
Incoming:
Tilly METZ (Greens/EFA, LU) joined the Parliament as member, replacing Claude TURMES, who left his seat to become the new Luxembourgish secretary of state for environment.
Composition of the committee and the delegations:
Members:
Mirja VEHKAPERÄ (ALDE, FI) joined the committee on development (DEVE) and the delegation to the EU-Russia parliamentary cooperation committee (D-RU).
Jiří PAYNE (EFDD, CZ) joined the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE), replacing Jörg MEUTHEN (EFDD, DE).
Stay ahead of the game by subscribing to our weekly newsletter.
Substitutes:
Mirja VEHKAPERÄ (ALDE, FI) joined the committee on foreign affairs (AFET).
Ulrike MÜLLER (ALDE, DE) joined the delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan, EU-Uzbekistan and EU-Tajikistan parliamentary cooperation committees and for relations with Turkmenistan and Mongolia (D-CAS).
Jiří PAYNE (EFDD, CZ) left the subcommittee on human rights (DROI).
Events:
Discards: On 26 June, the European Parliament Intergroup on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development’ will organise a conference on ‘The landing obligation and discards’ survivability: How to assess and improve discards’ survival?’ The event will take place at the European Parliament, where recent research results from a project funded through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) on discards survival of flatfish and rays in pulse trawling will be presented. Policymakers and stakeholders will gather to discuss issues such as measuring discards survival, improving discards survival, and the improvements in selectivity based on both technical development and other measures, with a focus on fishing gear. Click here for more information, and register via this link.
Bee Week: Bee week will take place on 26-28 June 2018. This year the main theme is ‘’How is the agricultural community mobilised to protect bees?’’ Bee Week 2018 is hosted by MEP Michel DANTIN (EPP, FR), Chair of the Apiculture & Bee Health working group of the European Parliament's intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, alongside MEPs Mairead MCGUINNESS (EPP, IR), Marijana PETIR (EPP, HR), Nathalie GRIESBECK (ALDE, FR), Frederique RIES (ALDE, BE) and Pavel POC (S&D, CZ).
More than 200 participants are expected. Speakers of the high-level conference on 28 June include:
• Mariya GABRIEL, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society
• Karmenu VELLA (tbc), European Commissioner on Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries
• Phil HOGAN, European Commissioner on Agriculture and Rural Development (by video-message)
• Daniel CALLEJA-CRESPO, Director General, DG ENV
• Pekka PESONEN, Secretary General, Copa-Cogeca
The draft agenda is now available online. Registration here.
European Commission:
Commissioners' Cabinets:
Cabinet of Corina CREŢU: Marion FINKE joined as member, replacing Anna-Lena ZADEMACH-SCHWIERZ who was in charge of territorial cooperation and macrostrategies, competition, employment, anti-fraud and legal service, among other things.
Cabinet of Jyrki KATAINEN: Former director of investment and company reporting at DG FISMA, Nathalie de BASALDÚA joined the team as deputy head. Ms de BASALDÚA will be in charge of daily coordination, financial stability, financial services and capital markets union.
Cabinet of Christos STYLIANIDES: Christodoulos GROUTIDES joined as member. Mr GROUTIDES is in charge of the disaster risk management policy, health and the development of the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, among other things.
Directorates-General:
Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI):
Directorate H – assurance and audit: Horea-Silviu TODORAN, started his new role as head of the competency centre for assurance and audit, replacing Margaret BATESON-MISSEN.
Maria Teresa PAPA, was appointed as head of assurance and audit – rural development, having previously served as deputy head of the unit, replacing Horea-Silviu TODORAN.
Energy (ENER):
Directorate C – renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency: Haitze SIEMERS was appointed head of new energy technologies, innovation and clean coal, replacing Andreea STRACHINESCU.
Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW):
Directorate H – COSME programme: Birgit WEIDEL replaced Maarit NYMAN as head of COSME programme, SME envoys and relations with EASME.
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MARE):
Directorate A – Maritime policy and blue economy: Andreea STRACHINESCU was appointed head of maritime innovation, marine knowledge and investment, replacing Haitze SIEMERS.
Directorate B – international ocean governance and sustainable fisheries: Current head of regional fisheries management organisations Anders JESSEN was appointed as acting director of international ocean governance and sustainable fisheries, replacing Stefaan DEPYPERE.
Committee of the Regions:
Rapporteurs:
Ximo PUING (PES, ES) and Olga ZRIHEN (PES, BE) were appointed rapporteurs on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and on the Reform Support Programme and the European Investment Stabilisation Function respectively.
Public affairs:
Got any new appointment you would like us to include in our next newsletter? Contact Ifigenia Balkoura!
BOLDT: bolstered its team with three new hires. Simone CERUTI will join Brussels office as Partner in September. In his new role he will lead the consultancy’s digital public affairs practice and its work in the health, nutrition, sustainability, food & drink and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. Erik Strøm will join in December as Partner in Oslo office while Vibeke Mohn Herberg in August as a Director.
CEMA - European Agricultural Machinery: Anthony VAN DER LEY, CEO of LEMKEN GmbH, was elected new President of the association, taking over from Richard MARKWELL.
EuroCommerce: Régis DEGELCKE was elected as President for a three-year term, starting in July. He will take over from Kenneth BENGTSSON.
European Covered Bond Council (ECBC): Boudewijn DIERICK, currently head of flow ABS and covered bond structuring at BNP Paribas, was nominated as deputy Chairman for the 2018-2019 mandate.
European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC): Alberto ALLODI was elected as honourary member.
European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (EUFORES): Following the appointment of former MEP Claude TURMES as secretary of state for sustainable development and infrastructure in Luxembourg, Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK) was appointed as acting president.
EU Vegetable Oil and Proteinmeal Industry (Fediol): John GROSSMANN was elected as President for two-year mandate.
FoodServiceEurope: Jean-François Camarty and Cédric Barthélemy were unanimously elected Vice Presidents, succeeding Jonas SILJHAMMAR and Cyril CAPLIEZ respectively.
Pharmaceutical Group of European Union (PGEU): Michał BYLINIAK, Vice-President of the Polish Pharmaceutical Chamber was elected as President for 2019 and Thanasis PAPATHANASSIS, from the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association (PFS), as Vice-President for the same period.
News in a nutshell:
Brexit: This week the EU Withdrawal Bill returned to the House of Lords, where the UK Government was defeated, after the peers voted (with an increased majority) 354 to 235 in favour of an amendment that would give the MPs a “meaningful vote” in the case of no deal. The Bill then returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday 20 June, where it was voted through with 319 to 303 after the Conservative rebels accepted a last-minute compromise. The House of Lords accepted the amendment and the Bill was sent for royal assent.
The European Commission’s Task Force on Article 50 published slides on the police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, which were presented at the Council working group on 15 June. Speaking at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vienna, the EU chief negotiator Michel BARNIER said that the UK “needs to show realism” and that given the UK Government’s red lines on freedom of people, the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and charter of fundamental rights, the UK will not be part of the European Arrest Warrant.
The European Commission also published slides on foreign, security and defence policy, while the UK department for exiting the EU and the European Commission published a joint statement on the withdrawal agreement, outlining progress made by the EU and UK negotiators.
Elsewhere, UK Prime Minister Theresa MAY announced an extra £20bn-a-year over the next five years boost in the national health system, claiming that the amount will be partially covered from a “Brexit dividend”. However, she also admitted that taxpayers will have to contribute more for this. Opposition deputy leader Tom WATSON branded the “Brexit dividend” claim as misleading and reported the Prime Minister to the Advertising Standards Agency.
On Wednesday 20 June European Parliament chief negotiator Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE) visited London, where he met with Brexit secretary of state David DAVIS and home secretary Sajid JAVID. VERHOFSTADT repeated that the UK Government’s Irish border backstop proposal was not acceptable and mentioned that the future trade deal could carry on throughout the entire transition period.
The UK Home Office published much-awaited details of the settlement scheme for EU citizens after Britain exits the EU in March 2019. UK immigration minister Caroline NOKES confirmed that those applying under the scheme will only need to complete three key steps. They will need to prove their identity, show that that they live in the UK, and declare that they have no serious criminal convictions, she said. However, she refused to confirm whether the EU citizens living in the UK will be granted the “settled status” in case of “no deal”.
The UK home secretary Sajid JAVID called on the EU member states to provide more details on how they will ensure the Brits’ rights post-Brexit.
On Thursday 21 June, the minister of state for trade policy Greg HANDS resigned over a Heathrow airport runway expansion. This is the second cabinet resignation within two weeks, after justice minister Philip LEE stepped down.
Denmark: Business minister Brian MIKKELSEN stepped down from his role to take up a new role as chief executive of the Danish chamber of commerce. He was replaced by Rasmus JARLOV.
Poland: Jan Krzysztof ARDANOWSKI was appointed as the new minister for agriculture and rural development, replacing Krzysztof JURGIEL, who quit earlier this week citing personal reasons.
