Europe's Cordon Sanitaire
But also — European Medals, Excessive Deficit, Commissioners, Ukraine, Brexit, Infringements, Rule of Law
Hello! It’s Tuesday 30 August, and here is your EU news summary for the week. Feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
This edition is the last of the season — see you in September. In 12 months, What's up EU has been read more than 200,000 times. Thanks to our loyal and attentive readers.
We hope your holidays will be more festive than those of European diplomats. The European External Action Service has exceeded its budget by 43 million euros. The EU's diplomatic arm has been asked to cut back on hors d'oeuvres and business trips!
The Briefing
Last Tuesday, the various committees of the European Parliament elected their chairs and vice-chairs. The political groups divided up the leadership of these influential "mini-parliaments”, while blocking the Patriots for Europe group, which did not obtain any of these much coveted positions. In the European Parliament, the exclusion of the far-right from substantial legislative work is referred to as the “cordon sanitaire”.
COMMI-WHAT? • In the European Parliament, almost all legislative work is done within 20 thematic parliamentary committees, each comprising between 25 and 90 members.
These are responsible for amending legislative proposals made by the European Commission (regulations, directives) before they are voted on in plenary.
The composition of the committees reflects national and political balances. In this sense, the committees are true thematic "mini-parliaments." A vote on a text in committee thus gives a good indication of how the vote will unfold in plenary.
INFLUENCE • The level of influence of the committees is very unequal. It depends on:
The policy in question: Is it an exclusive or shared competence of the EU?
The parliament's competencies compared to other institutions: For example, the Parliament has limited competencies in foreign policy compared to the Council.
The timing: The budget committee (BUDG) will likely gain importance as the Commission must propose its next budget for the period 2028-2034 in 2025 — even though the Parliament has no amendment power in this area (only its approval is required for the adoption of this budget).
Among the committees where the positions of chairs and vice-chairs are generally the most coveted, we find:
ITRE: Industry, Research, and Energy.
ENVI: Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety.
IMCO: Internal Market and Consumer Protection.
LIBE: Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs.
AGRI: Agriculture and Rural Development.
The composition of each committee was already established during the constitutive plenary (during which Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as head of the European Commission).
Last Tuesday, each committee elected its chair and its 3 or 4 vice-chairs. The political groups had already arranged among themselves to distribute the different positions. Chairs and vice-chairs are elected for the first half of the mandate (2.5 years) — in practice, they are re-elected for the second half.
The committee chair has a strategic role. In addition to chairing the meetings of the committee in which they sit, they represent the committee during the monthly meetings of the conference of committee chairs and sometimes speak on behalf of the committee during plenary sessions. They also negotiate with other committee chairs to allocate files.
Finally, during negotiations with the Council and the European Commission — the famous trilogues — the chair is also part of the Parliament's negotiating team with the rapporteurs (we'll talk about them below). More about vice-chairs here.
WHO GOT WHAT • As the leading political force in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP, centre-right) retained the chairmanship of ITRE and the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET). The party also obtained the leadership of LIBE.
The Social Democrats (S&D, centre-left), the second-largest political force in the European Parliament, retained the leadership of the International Trade Committee (INTA) and the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON).
The S&D group also gained the chairmanship of ENVI, previously in the hands of the liberals (Renew Europe).
Renew Europe lost the chairmanship of the influential ENVI committee, reflecting its disappointing score in the European elections. The group got the leadership of the Development Committee (DEVE) and retained the chairmanship of the Security and Defense Subcommittee (SEDE) and the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI).
The Greens retained the influential IMCO and obtained the leadership of the Human Rights Subcommittee (DROI).
The Left group (to the left of S&D — LFI MEPs sit there) notably obtained the presidency of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL).
Finally, the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, to the right of EPP) obtained the presidency of AGRI and BUDG.
PATRIOTS • The two right-wing groups, the Patriots for Europe (3rd political force in the European Parliament with 84 deputies, including the RN and Fidesz) and Europe of Sovereign Nations (the smallest group in the European Parliament with 25 deputies, including the AfD), did not obtain any chair or vice-chair roles.
Following a proportional distribution, the Patriots would have obtained the presidency of two committees, but the rest of the political groups agreed to apply a sanitary cordon already in effect during the last mandates.
Note here that the cordon sanitaire did not apply to the ECR group — however, only its most moderate members had access to positions within the committees' bureau.
The Patriots denounced a situation that "prevents us from working for our voters”. Hungarian MEP Kinga Gál has stated that the Patriots will challenge the decision before the conference of group presidents and that the group will use all available legal remedies, including going before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU).
She refers to the Parliament's procedural rules, which state that "the diversity of the Parliament must be reflected in the composition of the bureau of each committee" (Rule 219).
OTHER ROLES • MEPs can also influence the work of their committee by being appointed as rapporteur on a text. The rapporteur is responsible for leading the committee's work on the text in question and drafting a report presented in plenary. They are also present during trilogues.
The Patriots have a better chance of obtaining some of these roles, even if they mostly go to other groups.
Designated by each group, coordinators also have their importance: they organize the work of their group within the committee in question and negotiate the allocation of files between the different groups.
BACK 2 WORK • The Parliament is now ready to operate. The activity of the various committees should resume by the end of August. They will already have work: some texts from the previous legislature are still in progress.
Inter Alia
MEDALS • Discover the European medal count at the Olympic Games, unveiled by the French Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra and Margarítis Schinás, Vice President of the European Commission in charge of migration issues and Commissioner for the promotion of the European way of life.
Is adding up European medals a good idea? According to Sébastien Maillard, who led the Jacques Delors Institute from 2017 to 2023, it’s a complicated one:
"I am torn on the idea of bringing medals together under a single European banner. This could fuel fears that Europe erases nations while it actually highlights their strengths and diversity. Sport is not, strictly speaking, a European competence. But of course, there is nothing stopping us from adding up the medals won by each of the 27 countries to show that they collectively contribute to our pride and standing in the world of sport."
EXCESSIVE DEFICIT • On the day of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, the EU Council officially launched the excessive deficit procedure against 7 Member States. The EU Council followed the recommendation made by the Commission.
The 7 countries that are targeted are France (with a deficit level reaching 5.5% of GDP), Belgium (4.4%), Italy (7.4%), Hungary (6.7%), Malta (4.9%), Poland (5.1%), and Slovakia (4.9%).
The Council is expected to adopt a package of recommendations for the countries concerned by the end of the year — on the Commission’s proposal. Before that, all EU countries must submit their medium-term budget plans (4-7 years) this fall.
COMMISSIONERS • The President-elect of the European Commission has sent a letter to European capitals asking them to put forward their candidates to join the College of Commissioners. Member States are asked to designate two candidates with one being a woman and the other a man, unless the government is proposing to reappoint a Commissioner.
The President of the Commission will be interviewing candidates until the end of August, formally select them and decide on their portfolio in negotiations with Member States. After this, the Commissioners-designate will be heard individually and then voted on by the European Parliament. The new European Commission is due to take office on 1 November 2024 — if all goes well.
UKRAINE • On 26 July, the EU disbursed 1.5 billion euros to support Ukraine. These funds come from assets of the Bank of Russia that were frozen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This payment represents the first tranche of the proceeds from these assets. The funds are channeled through the European Peace Facility (EPF) and the Ukraine Facility. They will mainly be used to purchase military equipment.
BREXIT • Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen are looking to organize a meeting between the EU and the UK at the end of August or beginning of September, according to the FT. Starmer wants a reset of relations with the EU, with the objective to reduce trade friction caused by Brexit in mind.
The EU, for its part, is notably hoping to obtain greater flexibility on migration, particularly for students and young workers. Germany has just concluded an agreement with the UK on defense issues. The country hopes to use this agreement as a basis for a future defense and security pact between the EU and the UK.
INFRINGEMENTS • The Commission has adopted a package of infringement measures against countries that do not comply with their obligations under EU law — for example, those that are late in transposing EU directives.
RULE OF LAW • The European Commission has published its annual Rule of Law Report. The report reviews developments pertaining to the rule of law in all Member States and some candidate countries.
The Commission singles out Hungary for a lack of progress on key recommendations — notably concerning high-level corruption and media independence.
Slovakia is reprimanded for legal reforms perceived to threaten the independence of the public media and the activities of NGOs.
Italy is called on to better protect its journalists amid growing political pressure and fears of censorship, heightened by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's legal actions against journalists.
What We’ve Been Reading
Politico’s Antonia Zimmermann reports on the criticisms the European Commission has received for the agreement reached with Rwanda to secure access to strategic raw resources.
This edition was prepared by the What’s Up EU team, including Paul Healy, Hana Rajabally and Maxence de La Rochère. See you next week!