The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union, subsequently resulting in a reduction in the number of seats in the European Parliament from 751 to 705.
The President of the European Union is elected by the MEP's and serve a term of 2.5 years each with the possibility of re-election. The role of the president is varied, but some roles are presiding over debates, representing the EP when dealing with other European Union institutions.[12]
The 14 Vice Presidents are elected in a single ballot by an absolute majority of votes cast. If the number of successful candidates is less than 14, a second vote is held to assign the remaining seats under the same conditions. If a third vote is necessary, a simple majority is sufficient to fill the remaining seats. Vice Presidents take precedence in the order in which they are elected and, in the event of a tie, by age. At each round, MEPs may vote for as many candidates as the number of seats available at that round, but they have to vote for more than half of the positions to be filled.[13]
There are currently 7 political groups in the parliament, one less than the previous parliament. Each MEP can belong to only one group. Political groups can be founded by at least 25 MEPs which come from at least one quarter of all EU member states (currently seven).[3]Roberta Metsola currently belongs to the [[European People's Party
]]
Political groups and parties
The 705 seats after the UK left by their representation
The 751 seats before the UK left by their representation
There are currently 7 political groups in the parliament, one less than the previous parliament. Each MEP can belong to only one group. Political groups can be founded by at least 25 MEPs which come from at least one quarter of all EU member states (currently seven).[3]
When the United Kingdom left the EU, 27 seats were reallocated to the other member states and the other 46 seats were abolished, for a total of 705 MEPs.[26]
MEPs are divided up among 20 standing committees. Each MEP is usually member of one committee and a substitute member of another. Committees discuss legislative proposals from the Commission before the European Parliament decides on them in plenary session. The European Parliament has an equal role to the Council of the EU in the ordinary legislative procedure, which is usually used in decision-making process at the EU level.[33]
Each committee elects its chair and vice chairs to lead the work of the committee. Committee chairs are members of the Conference of Committee Chairs, which coordinates the work of all the committees.[33]
European Parliament confirmed Ursula von Der Leyen as President of the European Commission on 16 July 2019.
On the same summit Charles Michel(ALDE), incumbent Prime Minister of Belgium was elected a new President of the European Council and President of Euro Summit for a 2.5 years term.
Following the election of the new President of the Commission, President-elect called upon member states to propose candidates for European Commissioners. The President-elect, in agreement with the European Council, assigned to each proposed candidate a portfolio, and the Council sent the list of candidates to the European Parliament. Candidates were then questioned about their knowledge of the assigned portfolio and confirmed by European Parliament Committees. When all of the candidates were confirmed by the respective committee, European Parliament took a vote of confirmation of the new European Commission in the plenary session. European Commission was then officially appointed by the European Council using qualified majority.[40] Commissioners took the oath of office before the Court of Justice of the EU before officially taking office.
The responsible committee held a 3-hour hearing of the Commissioner-designate to examine the candidate's competence and suitability. Committee decided if candidate is suitable to become a European Commissioner and if their knowledge of the portfolio is sufficient. After each hearing, the committee voted on the candidate. Decisions of the committee were first taken by the coordinators of the EP political groups, at this point each candidate needed support of 2/3 of coordinators, if support was reached, the candidate was confirmed. If such support was not reached, then committee as a whole took a vote on a Commissioner-designate, where a candidate needed the support of the majority of committee members. If candidate was rejected by the committee as well, President-elect could propose a new candidate, in which case a new hearing would take place for a new candidate. Coordinators could also decide to hold additional hearing of 1.5 hours or demand additional written answers. If there were more committees hearing one candidate, all committees would give a joint evaluation.[citation needed]
The first round of hearings took place from 30 September until 8 October 2019, followed by the evaluation by the BCPR (Conference of Presidents) on 15 October 2019. If any of the candidates would be rejected by the responsible committee, new hearings would take place on 14 and 15 October 2019, followed by BCPR evaluation on 16 October 2019. BCPR closed hearings process on 17 October 2019.[8] Before the hearings begin, Committee on Legal Affairs, on 19 September 2019, examined if there was a possibility of a conflict of interests for any of the candidates for commissioners.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom, which had been expected to leave the EU on 31 October 2019, did not nominate a candidate for commissioner.[42]
It was reported by Euractiv on 26 September 2019 that commissioners-designate László Trócsányi of Hungary (Neighbourhood and Enlargement) and Rovana Plumb of Romania (Transport) will be questioned by the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee about their declarations of interests due to potential conflict of interests and "discrepancies in property statements". Other commissioners-designate were approved by the Committee, including Didier Reynders of Belgium (Justice) and Sylvie Goulard of France (Internal Market) who are under investigation by respective national authorities due to corruption allegations or misuse of EU money, according to one of the MEPs because the Committee does not have the authority to question candidates beyond facts stated in the declarations od interests. Euractiv also reports that Janusz Wojciechowski of Poland (Agriculture) might as well be questioned by the Committee.[43] Euractiv reported later that day that Rovana Plumb of Romania was rejected as a European Commissioner-designate by 10 votes to 6 (with 2 abstentions). Hungarian Commissioner-designate László Trócsányi was rejected on 26 September as well by 11 votes to 9 due to his personal finances in connection with his law firm, he founded before becoming Minister of Justice and due to concerns about "connections to Russia" in relation to extradition of Russian suspects to Russia.[44] It is up to the President-elect Ursula von der Leyen to take further decisions on candidates, while JURI approval is a necessary precondition for hearings to take place. This was the first time that candidates have been rejected by the JURI Committee.[citation needed]
Following the JURI Committee decision to reject László Trócsányi, he published a statement on his Twitter account later that day, stating that he will take all legal steps against the decision.[45] This could have an impact on the process of formation of the new European Commission which is due to take office on 1 November 2019.[citation needed]
The Legal Affairs Committee was asked to decide on both rejected candidates again and on 30 September 2019 JURI again rejected both of the candidates, Plumb with 13 votes to 7 and Trócsányi with 12 votes to 9.[46] Following the vote, President-elect Von der Leyen asked the national governments of Romania and Hungary to propose new candidates. Hungary already proposed a new candidate Olivér Várhelyi, its Permanent Representative to the EU.[47]
According to several media reports hearings before the European Parliament committees could be tough for:[48][49]
Janusz Wojciechowski - European Commissioner-designate for Agriculture (due to ongoing investigation by OLAF regarding irregularities in the reimbursement of travel expenses when he was MEP; it was reported on 27 September by Politico that OLAF dropped investigation because Wojciechowski already paid the money back to the European Parliament)[50][51]
Didier Reynders - European Commissioner-designate for Justice (due to investigation by the national authorities regarding corruption and money laundering in the Democratic Republic of Congo; it was reported by Politico on 27 September 2019 that Belgian prosecutor dropped the investigation against Reynders and found no wrongdoing)[52][53]
Sylvie Goulard - European Commissioner-designate for Internal Market (due to alleged misuse of EU funds)[54]
Paolo Gentiloni - European Commissioner-designate for Economy (due to his role in Italian economy as Prime Minister)[49]
Dubravka Šuica - Vice-President-designate for Democracy and Demography (due to personal finances and possession of many real estate worth more than 5 million euros in light of her work as teacher, mayor and MP, and due to her views on women's rights, especially freedom of birth and due to her past votings as MEP where she objected abortion)[55]
Schedule of the hearings
Date
9:00-12:00
14:30-17:30
18:30-21:30
30 September 2019
Maroš Šefčovič of Slovakia Vice-President-designate for Inter-Institutional Relations and Foresight
Josep Borrell of Spain Vice-President-designate for A Stronger Europe in the World and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
AFET
8 October 2019
Valdis Dombrovskis of Latvia Executive Vice-President-designate for Economy that Works for People and European Commissioner-designate for Financial Markets
Margrethe Vestager of Denmark Executive Vice-President-designate for Europe Fit for Digital Age and European Commissioner-designate for Competition
Coordinators of political groups in the responsible committees decided that additional written answers will be requested by and potentially additional hearing of 1.5 hours should be held for:
Janusz Wojciechowski of Poland, European Commissioner-designate for Agriculture (additional hearing on 8 October 2019)[60]
Sylvie Goulard of France, European Commissioner-designate for Internal Market (additional hearing on 10 October 2019)[61]
Ylva Johansson of Sweden, European Commissioner-designate for Home Affairs
The Council of the European Union (Council) is one of three EU institutions involved in the EU lawmaking process. It is the de facto upper house of the EU legislature, the European Parliament being the lower house, with an equal role in the ordinary legislative procedure. The Council consists of ministerial representatives from member states' national governments. Votes are decided by qualified majority (55% of member states and 65% of EU population).
Every six months, a new EU member state takes over the presidency of the Council. As presiding country, it organises Council meetings (with the help of Secretariat General) and decides on their agendas. These agendas are prepared in cooperation with other two member states that are part of each trio, which form common policy agendas over their 18-month period.
There are 266 women MEPs, 37.7% of the whole Parliament. Kira Peter-Hansen of Denmark is the youngest MEP at 21, while Silvio Berlusconi (former Prime Minister of Italy), is the oldest at the age of 82. The average age of all MEPs is 50.[100]
387 of current MEPs is newly elected and weren't members of European Parliament before. 295 MEPs were also members of the previous Parliament. 16 of current MEPs held position before, but not between 2014 and 2019.[100]
Women MEPs
New MEPs
Age
Youngest
Average
Oldest
266 / 705
387 / 705
21
50
82
Statistics by member states
Most bureau positions is held by Germany, while on the other side Slovenia is the only member state that has no bureau positions. With 5, Germany has most Committee Chairmen, followed by France with 4.
Finland (with 7 women out of 13 MEPs) and Sweden (with 11 out of 20) are the only member states with more women MEPS than men. Austria, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovenia have a gender parity. Cyprus is the only member state without any women.
Slovakia has the highest percent of newly elected MEPs at 85%, while Malta only has 33% of newly elected MEPs.[100]
With 60 years of age Lithuania has the oldest national delegation, while Malta has the youngest at 44. Sweden has the youngest "oldest" MEP at the age of 58 and Lithuania has the oldest "youngest" MEP at the age of 54.[100]
Delegations are established to maintain and develop relations with entities the European Parliament has an interest to cooperate with. Among these are countries that EU has close (especially trade) relations or countries applying expected to join the EU. The EP also cooperates with the parliamentary bodies of other international organisations, such as NATO.[101] Delegations have full and substitute members, and elects its own chair.[101] They can be divided in two groups, standing delegations and ad hoc delegations.[101]
JPCs are created with bilateral agreement between the EU and the third country.[103]
Delegation
Chair
Delegation for Northern cooperation and for relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee
Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee
^Jeppe Kofod did not take his seat as he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. His resignation from the MEP seat was effective on 2 July 2019. The seat will be taken up by Marianne Vind.
^ abAdditional hearing was requested by the political groups coordinators.
^Rejected by the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee on 26 September 2019 by 11 votes to 9 due to his personal finances in connection with his law firm, he founded before becoming Minister of Justice.
^Rejected by the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee on 26 September 2019 by 15 votes to 6 due to discrepancies between declarations of interests provided to the European Parliament and to the national authorities.
^de la Baume, Maïa (26 June 2019). "Brexit Party misses first deadline to form political group in European Parliament". Politico Europe. Retrieved 4 July 2019. Several Parliament officials said that Farage's former "Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy" group had not been added to the official list. "Farage and 5Star doesn't have a group," said one official, referring to Italy's 5Star movement which was also part of the EFDD.
David Sassoli (S&D) 
Roberta Metsola (EPP) (acting)
1
0
46
