Today’s Movers & Shakers are about: Chairs and vice-chairs of the new parliamentary committees, date of hearing set for Commissioner-designate Mairead McGuinness, Belgian government formations enter the final phase, the new Czech minister for health, the latest Commission, public affairs appointments, and more!
European Parliament
Political Groups
Greens/EFA
Petra de Sutter (BE) has been elected coordinator of the Special Committee on beating cancer.
Renew Europe
The group have elected their coordinators in the newly set-up parliamentary committees:
Special Committee on beating cancer (BECA) - Nicolae Ștefănuță (RO)
Sub-committee on tax matters (FISC) - Gilles Boyer (FR)
Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation (INGE) - Nathalie Loiseau (FR)
Special Committee on artificial intelligence in a digital age (AIDA) - Svenja Hahn (DE)
Inquiry Committee on animal transport (ANIT) - Asger Christensen (DK)
Committees and Delegations
The bureaus of the newly formed parliamentary committees have been elected:
Special Committee on beating cancer (BECA)
Chair: Bartosz Arłukowicz (EPP, PO)
1st vice-chair: Joanna Kopcińska (ECR, PO)
2nd vice-chair: Sara Cerdas (S&D, PT)
3rd vice-chair: Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (EPP, FR)
4th vice-chair: Ivars Ijabs (RE, LV)
Sub-committee on tax matters (FISC)
Chair: Paul Tang (S&D, NL)
1st vice-chair: Markus Ferber (EPP, DE)
2nd vice-chair: Martin Hlaváček (RE, CZ)
3rd vice-chair: Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Greens/EFA, DK)
4th vice-chair: Othmar Karas (EPP, AT)
Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation (INGE)
Chair: Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, FR)
1st vice-chair: Javier Zarzalejos (EPP, ES)
The second, third and fourth vice-chair will be elected at a future meeting.
Special Committee on artificial intelligence in a digital age (AIDA)
Chair: Dragos Tudorache (RE, RO)
1st vice-chair: Miapetra Kumpula-Natri (S&D, FI)
2nd vice-chair: Geoffroy Didier (EPP, FR)
3rd vice-chair: Edina Tóth (EPP, HU)
4th vice-chair: Birgit Sippel (S&D, DE)
Inquiry Committee on animal transport (ANIT)
Chair: Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, LU)
1st vice-chair: Marlene Mortler (EPP, DE)
2nd vice-chair: Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL, NL)
3rd vice-chair: Mohammed Chahim (S&D, NL)
4th vice-chair: Martin Hojsík (RE, SK)
Australia and New Zealand Delegation (D-ANZ)
Josianne Cutajar (S&D, MT) has been elected vice-chair and will support fellow vice-chair Axel Voss (EPP, DE) and chair Ulrike Müller (RE, DE), in their work.
Members
Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA, ES) replaced Diana Riba (Greens/EFA, ES) on the Human Rights Sub-committee (DROI), Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET), Maghreb Delegation (D-MAG), and Union for the Mediterranean Delegation (D-MED).
European Commission
Commissioners
The Parliament’s Conference of Presidents has adopted the calendar of hearings of Commissioner-designate in charge of financial services, financial stability and the Capital Markets Union Mairead McGuinness and Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis. The hearings are set to take place on 2 October, with McGuinness to be heard by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) from 9.00 to 12.00 CET and Dombrovskis to be heard by the International Trade Committee from 13.00 to 16.00 CET.
Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, has launched the new Victims' Rights Platform. The platform will meet annually and on an ad-hoc basis when necessary to serve as a forum for discussions on victims' rights with relevant actors including the European Network on Victims' Rights, the EU Network of national contact points for compensation, the EU Counter–Terrorism Coordinator, Eurojust, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and civil society. Katarzyna Janicka-Pawlowska has been appointed as the Coordinator for Victims' Rights
Commissioner cabinets
Cabinet of Věra Jourová
Kevin O'Connell, member of cabinet in charge of rule of law and transparency, as well as anti-corruption, will be leaving the team at the end of September and will take up a new position within the EU delegation to New Zealand. His replacement is yet to be announced.
Directorates-General
Communications Networks Content and Technology (CONNECT)
Roland Buehrle replaces Griet Van Caenegem as Head of Unit R2 (Administration and Finance) in an acting capacity.
Health and Food Safety (SANTE)
Current deputy director general Sandra Gallina will take on the responsibility of acting director general in an acting capacity from 1 October following the retirement of Anne Bucher.
Informatics (DIGIT)
Dirk Lapage has begun a new role as adviser for Corporate IT Strategy and will be based in Brussels. Lapage has previously worked in DG HR as adviser for digital transformation.
Spokesperson’s Service (SPP)
Flora Matthaes has been appointed press officer for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.
Trade (TRADE)
Cristina Miranda Gozalvez becomes Head of Unit C1 (African, Caribbean and Pacific, Overseas Countries and Territories) filling a vacant tenure.
Other EU Institutions and Agencies
Committee of the Regions (CoR)
A UK Contact Group has been established with the aim of maintaining lines of communication between local and regional authorities in the European Union and the UK's cities, regions and devolved administrations. The group will be chaired by Loïg Chesnais-Girard (PES, FR). The group will also comprise of 12 full members:
Ellen Nauta-Van Moorsel (EPP, NL)
Michael Murphy (EPP, IE)
Ximo Puig i Ferrer (PES, ES)
Aleksandra Dulkiewicz (EPP, PL)
Erik Flyvholm (RE, DK)
Pehr Granfalk (EPP, SE)
Antje Grotheer (PES, DE)
Michiel Rijsberman (RE, NL)
Maria Gomes (PES, PT)
Karl Vanlouwe (EA, BE)
Oldřich Vlasák (ECR, CZ)
European Central Bank (ECB)
The Netherlands will nominate Frank Elderson to the executive board. Elderson has been an Executive Director of Supervision at the central bank of the Netherlands (DNB) since July 2011 and is also currently a member of the Supervisory Board. Elderson would replace Yves Mersch when his term expires in December 2020. Other Eurozone governments have until the end of today to nominate candidates for the seat.
European Court of Justice (ECJ)
The Judicial Council has selected Supreme Court judge Miroslav Gavalec to replace the Slovak judge at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as of 2021. The Council also nominated Martina Janošíková, a former Constitutional Court Judge and former adviser to former ECJ judge Jan Mazák, to be appointed as an additional judge at the General Court.
European External Action Service (EEAS)
Secretary-General Helga Schmid’s tenure will come to an end in a few weeks. It is expected that the post for a successor will be published shortly and it will be open to members of the diplomatic services of member states and EU institutions. Schmid has been nominated by the German government as a candidate for secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Public Affairs
AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD)
Alessandro Profumo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Italy-based multinational Leonardo, has been elected president, replacing Eric Trappier (President & CEO of Dassault Aviation).
European Biodiesel Board (EBB)
Kristell Guizouarn has been elected as president for a second term while Xavier Noyon has been elected secretary-general as of 1 September. Prior to joining EBB Noyon has held the post of secretary-general in other organisations in the renewable energy sector and most recently established the EU office of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). For a complete list of the new EBB Executive Board for the term 2020-2022, please see here.
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National News
Belgium
Government formations have entered their final phase as King Philip appointed two “co-formateurs" to create a government on Wednesday. Alexander De Croo from the Open VLD party (ALDE) and Socialist Party (PES) member Paul Magnette, have been given the mission of forming a government over the next few days and will need to report back to Kind Philip on 28 September, after which a government should be formed by 1 October.
Czech Republic
Minister for health Adam Vojtech quit on Monday amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections. Prime minister Andrej Babis has appointed top epidemiologist Roman Prymula to replace Vojtech.
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