The balance of power in the European Union has shifted to the right, changing the face of the EU and its institutions.
Amid these changes, work goes on within the 24 committees of the European Parliament. Committee debate remains the lifeblood of much EU legislation.
The Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) is responsible for the effective functioning of all committee work. The chair of each committee sits on this “committee of committees,” which meets on the Tuesday of every Strasbourg session.
Part of the CCC’s work involves developing the draft agenda for plenary sessions, which they submit to the Conference of Presidents. This ensures that draft legislation complies with treaty rules on delegated implementing acts.
The chair of the CCC is elected every two and a half years. The position is currently held by Bernd Lange, a six-term MEP from the German Social Democrats, part of the S&D group.
'Fully-fledged parliament’
“There’s no doubt about it, it has really strongly increased — the power of the Parliament,” Lange tells The Parliament.
First elected in 1994, Lange is committed to European integration. From expansion efforts to economic challenges, he has witnessed significant changes.
“When I started, we just had the first co-decision legislation in some sectors,” he says. “Now, more or less in all political fields, we are a co-legislator, and we also now have the power for the ratification of international agreements.”
“We are a fully-fledged Parliament,” he adds.
The EP has considerably more power to introduce and shape legislation, to the extent that “if we have a legislative initiative report with an absolute majority, [the Commission is] committed to bring legislation forward,” Lange says.
The hearings for Commissioners-designate are another area where Lange identifies the EP as successfully extending its powers.
“This is not foreseen in the treaties, but we fought for that. Nowadays, it’s a model to have a proper scrutiny of a candidate for being a commissioner,” he says.
The EP’s committees operate differently than their national counterparts. Legislative work occurs as an entire institution, as opposed to a smaller group of decision-makers.
“We are looking in-depth on legislation, on concrete amendments, discussing between the political groups based on facts and not on supporting a government or being the opposition,” Lange says.
Other parts of EU machinery, however, still wield more power than the EP. The European Council, he says, often has faster access to relevant documents than the EP. This can constrain the EP’s ability to hold the European Commission to account.
“Sometimes, the Commission is trying to use instruments which are limiting the full power of the committees, like urgency procedures,” he says.
Gender parity struggles
Just four committees have a majority of female members, despite the EP’s stated ambitions to achieve gender parity for most parliamentary groups and having increased female representation in the Parliament overall.
“We changed the rules of procedure so there is now gender balance in the board of the committee. That’s really important,” Lange says.
Under new rules passed in October 2023, the bureau of each committee must reflect the diversity of the EP — meaning chairs and vice-chairs cannot be the same gender or from the same member state.
Lange says there have been other rule changes, plus a "gender week" and giving each committee a point person on gender issues. “We also now have questions during the hearings regarding gender equality,” he adds.
The reduction in female representation is due partly to the increase in far-right parties in the EP, which tend to be male-dominated or do not care about gender rules. Fewer women won seats in June’s European elections.
The battle for global influence
The far-right Patriots for Europe is now the third-largest group in the EP, which means “the limits and the tone have changed,” Lange says.
“When I started, there was a clear common sense between the far-left and the far-right to have more integration of the European Union,” he adds. “This has gone.”
To address this perceived “common sense” gap, the centre of gravity of EU politics is becoming a broader church. New compromises must be based on what Lange describes as a “stable majority of democratic forces.”
Lange sees a role for the EP beyond domestic political challenges in this new era of geopolitics. With global competition heating up, lower and middle-income countries around the world are becoming more strategically important for larger powers like the US, China and the EU.
“At the moment, we really have a chance to demonstrate towards the global south, specifically to Africa, that we have a different approach than China or other forces worldwide — also different to our colonial past,” he says. “We want to have a fair partnership and a good agreement.”
What’s next for the CCC?
Lange says he is hopeful for a good working relationship between the EP and the next Commission but acknowledged that some of the commissioners’ portfolios are vague, which could lead to confusion.
“This overlapping of competencies is complicated for us to identify who is responsible for what, and I hope this will also not lead to some kind of irresponsibility.”
Under his stewardship, Lange says the CCC’s influence has grown. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s a trend he would like to see continue.
“We are really playing a role in the process to make Parliament as efficient as possible, and also perhaps quicker,” he says.
Approving a €35bn loan for Ukraine, based on interest earned from frozen Russian assets, is one example he points to. The EP managed to shepherd the loan through the legislative process in about a month.
For the CCC chair, this is evidence of the success of his committee of committees. Still, it’s up to all 24 committees to get through the work on the EP’s plate and ensure that EU citizens are heard.
“We are playing some kind of role in this whole building of the European Union,” Lange says.