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BRUSSELS – Committees and subcommittees of the European Parliament held inaugural sessions on Tuesday during which they elected their presidents and vice-presidents, once again applying the “sanitary cordon” against two far-right groups of representatives.
The European Parliament operates in 20 standing committees and four subcommittees. So far, Croatian representatives who have received vice-presidential positions are Romana Jerković (SDP/S&D), who has been elected as the third vice-president of the Subcommittee on Public Health, and Fred Matić (SDP/S&D), the fourth vice-president of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
In five committees, fourth vice-presidents have not yet been elected; they will be chosen at the next session of those committees—Budgetary Control, Economic and Monetary Affairs, Employment and Social Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Subcommittee on Human Rights.
The most presidential positions were obtained by the largest political group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party, whose members were elected presidents of seven committees. Following them are the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) with 5 presidents, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) with three, the Liberal group Renew Europe and the Greens with two each, and the Left with one.
The far-right group Identity and Democracy, which is the third largest group in the European Parliament, did not receive any positions because other parties voted against their candidates, creating a sanitary cordon around the far-right. The same fate befell the even more right-leaning group Europe of Nations and Freedom. (July 23, 2024)