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Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on Parliament’s 16-19 July constitutive session, this Friday 12th July at 11.00.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on Parliament’s 16-19 July constitutive session, this Friday 12th July at 11.00.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on Parliament’s 16-19 July constitutive session, this Friday 12th July at 11.00.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Biniam Girmay sprints to his third victory on stage 12 of the Tour de France.

À l’initiative de Budapest, les ministres de l’Agriculture de l’UE discuteront de l’impact des insectes, des aliments à base de plantes ou de la viande cultivée en laboratoire sur les traditions culinaires européennes.

For the first time since 2008, NATO's final communiqué on Wednesday (10 July) did not refer to Georgia become a member one day, a step that is seen as consequence of the recent deterioration of relations between Tbilisi and Western partners.

In a ruling published on Thursday (11 June), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld a request by NGOs for a ban on wolf hunting in Austria, authorised by derogation, at a time when EU Member States are struggling to agree on a common position on the issue.

Die EU-Kommission hat am Donnerstag (11. Juli) beschlossen, Apple rechtlich an seine eigenen Zusagen u binden, seiner Konkurrenz den Zugang zur NFC-Technologie ermöglichen. Damit ist das Unternehmen einer weiteren kartellrechtlichen Prüfung in diesem Bereich vorerst entgangen.

Blame and reprimands followed Viktor Orbán's “Ukraine peace tour” to Moscow and Beijing, which he started as soon as Hungary took over the Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July.

Frankreich hat der EU-Kommission, zehn Tage nach Ablauf der Abgabefrist, seinen finalen Nationalen Energie- und Klimaplan (NECP) vorgelegt. Der Plan enthält ein Ziel für erneuerbare Energien für 2030, gegen das sich die französische Regierung zuvor gewehrt hatte.

L’Allemagne prévoit d’exclure en grande partie les composants chinois tels que ceux de Huawei et ZTE de son réseau mobile 5G d’ici 2029, avec une étape intermédiaire en 2026, selon un rapport de presse.

Written by Clare Ferguson.

After the excitement of the European elections, the 720 newly elected Members of the European Parliament take office on 16 July. Their first tasks will be crucial in the organisation of the tenth Parliament (sitting from 2024 to 2029). The agenda for the parliamentary session in Strasbourg from 16‑19 July 2024 is at first, therefore, dedicated to electing certain of their peers to Parliament’s most important offices.

This first, constitutive session will open on Tuesday morning (under revised Rules of Procedure, which enter into force that day). Members cannot take part in debates or votes until the President has been elected. Therefore, electing a new President is Members’ first task. Voting should begin on Tuesday morning. The political groups (or individual Members amounting to 1/20th of the whole Parliament), propose the presidential candidates. To form a political group, a minimum of 23 MEPs, elected in at least one quarter (currently seven) of the EU Member States, is required (Rule 33). With political group formation taking place right up to the wire this time, political alliances are difficult to predict, but having already announced her candidacy, it is widely expected that outgoing President Roberta Metsola will gain a second two-and-a-half year mandate. Members elect their President by absolute majority, in a secret ballot (with up to four rounds, under Rule 16).

Once the new President takes the chair, the elections to Parliament’s Bureau follow. Traditionally, the holders of these key posts reflect the numerical strength of the political groups, and also respect geographical and gender balance, and negotiations among the political groups ensure this balance. The 14 Vice-Presidents are elected in a single ballot by an absolute majority of votes cast (two further rounds of voting are possible, under Rule 17, to fill any remaining seats). Each responsible for specific aspects of parliamentary business, Vice-Presidents chair debates when the President cannot. Parliament then elects five Quaestors, by absolute majority, in up to three ballots (under Rule 18). They are responsible for administrative and financial matters directly concerning Members and their working conditions. The President and Vice-Presidents make up the new Bureau of the Parliament, with the Quaestors participating in an advisory capacity.

Before Parliament’s committees can hold their constitutive meetings, the Conference of Presidents (of the political groups) proposes the number of Members to sit on each committee. Members are due to vote on these numbers on Wednesday (under Rule 212), following which the political groups can appoint the Members of each committee. The committees should then elect their chairs and vice-chairs during meetings planned for 23 July. These appointments are generally the subject of an informal agreement among the political groups, based on using the d’Hondt method, and are expected to reflect the plurality of Member States and a fair representation of political views.

The strength of the political groups in Parliament is therefore at its most evident at this point in the legislature, as their preferred candidates for the Bureau and committee offices find out how much support they have. Negotiations to form these political groups (Members sit with others of similar political persuasion, rather than by nationality) began immediately after the June 2024 elections, and reflect the changes in the political landscape foreshadowed by the results. Political groups must comply with certain rules before informing Parliament’s Secretary-General of their composition. Some are closely aligned with a European political party, whereas others draw their membership from a wider range of national parties. Their presidents meet in the Conference of Presidents, chaired by the President of Parliament.

Once Parliament’s President is in place, it will be time to turn to the appointment of the next European Commission. While the majority of EU leaders endorsed a second mandate for Ursula von der Leyen during the 27 June European Council meeting, she still needs the support of an absolute majority of Members of Parliament – at least 361). Members are set to vote on the candidate for Commission President during this session, by secret ballot on Thursday. If von der Leyen does not obtain the required majority, the European Council would need to propose a new candidate within a month, and Parliament would then vote on the new candidate at the session scheduled for September. Von der Leyen is scheduled to present her priorities to Parliament on Thursday morning, before the vote. These will set the course for the whole term, against which Members scrutinise the Commission’s progress. Together, the new Commission President and EU leaders then propose their candidates for Commissioner posts. Parliament organises hearings of the Commissioners-designate, so that Members from the relevant parliamentary committees can assess their suitability. Members will then decide whether to approve the Commission as a whole at a plenary session later in the year.

Members are also due to hear statements on Wednesday morning from the European Council and the Commission on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of 27 June. However, as the process of appointing Parliament’s office-holders takes up considerable time, the customary statement on the priorities of the incoming Council Presidency, held by Hungary, which began on 1 July, is likely to take place during the September session.

• European Parliament Plenary Session July 2024
• Electing the European Parliament’s President
• Results of the May 2024 European elections
• European Parliament Rules of Procedure 2024‑2029
• Understanding the d’Hondt method: Allocation of parliamentary seats and leadership positions
• Rules on political groups in the European Parliament
• Role and election of the President of the European Commission
• Timeline to new EU institutional leadership
• Outcome of the European Council meeting of 27 June 2024
• How plenary works

Following consultations with the European Commission, Robert Fico's government decided to revise a controversial reform of the penal code, addressing EU concerns that Slovakia's newly reduced penalties and statutes of limitation, may inadequately protect the EU's financial interests.

Le gouvernement de la Première ministre italienne Giorgia Meloni serait plus isolé que jamais au niveau européen, a confié à Euractiv une eurodéputée du parti italien Mouvement 5 étoiles (M5S).

L’insecte peut causer de graves dommages à l’agriculture, l’horticulture productrice et l’environnement, avertit jeudi l’Office fédéral de l’agriculture (OFAG).

Der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron braucht die konservative Partei Les Républicains (LR), um eine Koalition der Mitte in der französischen Nationalversammlung zu bilden. Doch die Partei ist weiterhin tief gespalten.

La ministre écologiste allemande des Affaires étrangères, Annalena Baerbock, a annoncé qu’elle n’avait pas l’intention de se représenter à la chancellerie lors des élections fédérales de 2025, ce qui fait du ministre de l’Économie, Robert Habeck, le candidat le plus susceptible d’être élu.

Die jüdische Gemeinschaft in Europa sieht sich mit einer "steigenden Flut von Antisemitismus" konfrontiert. Der Konflikt im Nahen Osten "untergräbt" die Fortschritte bei dessen Bekämpfung, so die Europäische Agentur für Grundrechte am Donnerstag (11. Juli).

France submitted its national energy-climate plan (NECP) to the European Commission, setting a target for the renewable share of gross final energy consumption, while the government has been fighting to have nuclear energy recognised as well.

Written by Silvia Kotanidis.

The ‘revolving doors’ phenomenon has frequently caught media and public attention in recent years. This publication offers an overview of how the post term activities of members of the EU institutions –Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament, as opposed to staff members – are regulated by the EU institutions. The European Ombudsman has looked into the issue of revolving doors in the context of several individual cases; on a few occasions this has ended in an unsatisfactory outcome for the institution or body under investigation and prompted the European Ombudsman to make specific recommendations to avoid a repeat of maladministration in future cases. At EU level, almost all institutions place some restrictions on post-term activities, while a comparative overview of EU Member States shows that just a small number of them legislate for this aspect of the post-term activity of parliamentarians.

Read the in-depth analysis on ‘Rules on ‘revolving doors’ in the EU: Post-mandate restrictions on members of EU institutions and parliamentarians in Member States‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Listen to podcast ‘Rules on ‘revolving doors’ in the EU‘ on YouTube.

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