The newly elected European Parliament begun its five-year term with a plenary session of 20-23 July in Strasbourg.
MEPs have approved the European Council’s nominee, former Portuguese Prime Minister José Durão Barroso, as the new president of the European Commission. In a secret ballot, Mr Barosso was endorsed by the majority of 413 out of 711 votes cast. The vote revealed a clear left-right cleavage within the Assembly. Whereas liberals, the centre-right EPP-ED and the far-right UEN voted overwhelmingly in favour of the nomination of Mr Barosso, the Socialists, the Greens and the far left GUE/NLG were in a large part against, primarily due to his support for the Iraq war and insufficient commitment to a social and Green Europe.
Deputies have also decided on the composition of the Parliament’s Bureau, a powerful body that shapes the Assembly’s agenda. It comprises the EP President, fourteen Vice- Presidents and five quaestors. Following an "Agreement of Understanding" between the Socialists (PES) and Christian Democrats (EPP-ED), the socialist candidate, Josep Borrell from Spain, was elected the President of the Chamber for the first two and a half years. The EPP-ED, most probably in the person of Hans-Gert Pöttering, is set to take over during the second half of the legislative period when the new Constitution Treaty will have entered into force. Such technical agreements on the allocation of senior EP posts have been concluded between the major groups in the EP since the first direct elections in 1979.
Parliamentary committees have also held constituent meetings to elect their chairs and vice-chairs. The number of EP committees in the new Parliament has increased to 20 as compared with 17 during the 1999-2004 term (see EPHA’s related article). The EEP-ED group was allocated eight chairs, the PES - seven and the newly created liberal ALDE group - three. GUE/NGL and UEN groups chair one committee each.
You will find attached a list of the Parliament’s senior posts as well as the composition of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
Membership of all Parliamentary Committees is available at the EP official webiste
