After the June elections, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have started the 10th legislature in July, initially with a Plenary meeting in Strasburg where they had to vote on Ursula von der Leyen’s nomination (read more here). Around the 23rd and 24th of July, the first Committee meetings also took place.
EuropeOn has traditionally been mainly interested in the ITRE Committee, which deals with industry, research and energy. This has become one of the most influential Committees meaning it is also particularly sought-after by MEPs. MEP Boris Budka has been elected as its new Chair. He is a Polish MEP and belongs to the EPP (conservative) group. The elected Vice Chairs are: Tsvetelina Penkova (S&D, Bulgaria), Elena Donazzan (ECR, Italy), Giorgio Gori (S&D, Italy) and Yvan Verougstraete (Renew, Belgium).
The Environment Committee has been an impactful one since before the Green Deal already. It deals with high profile files such as the CO2 standards for vehicles, which introduced a ban on the sale of new combustion engines by 2035. This is now Chaired by Antonio Decaro, a newly-elected S&D (socialist) MEP from Italy. His Vice Chairs are María Esther Herranz García (EPP, Spain), Pietro Fiocchi (ECR, Italy), Anja Hazekamp (The Left, the Netherlands) and András Tivadar Kulja (EPP, Hungary).
The Transport Committee is also of relevance to EuropeOn as it deals with files related to the electrification of transport, such as the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation. The latter makes it mandatory for Member States to deploy a minimum amount of public charging stations, especially along main roads. It will be chaired by MEP Eliza Vozemberg (EPP, Greece) and Vice Chairs are Virginijus Sinkevičius (Greens, Lithuania), who is the former Environment Commissioner, Sophia Kircher (EPP, Austria), Elena Kountoura (The Left, Greece) and Matteo Ricci (S&D, Italy).
Finally, the Employment Committee also has a meaningful input for electrical contractors, as it deals with labour and skills policies. While this is not a core competence of the EU, EuropeOn has worked to ensure the skills and labour dimension of the energy transition is well considered and addressed to the extent possible in EU legislation. This Committee has issued opinions on energy policies, for which other committees are responsible, that have been taken into account in the Parliament’s final position and that address the workforce aspects of these files. The Chair of the Employment Committee is Li Andersson (The Left, Finland) and Vice Chairs are Johan Danielsson (S&D, Sweden), Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak (EPP, Poland) and Katrin Langensiepen (Greens, Germany).
During the July meetings, the main point on each agenda was the election of Chairs and Vice Chairs. The next committee meetings will be in September and will start to deal with the files left over from the last legislature and with new Commission proposals when they are released (most likely later in the year).
