Committee chairs finally saddle up

The fight over the chairs of the European Parliament’s committees, some of the most sought-after jobs in the assembly, should finally end this week after a drawn out period of some of the most bitter wrangling the Parliament has seen in a long time.

The ousting of EPP-ED MEP Elmar Brok as chairman of the Parliament’s foreign affairs committee after seven-and-a-half years in the post has shocked many observers, not least because forcing out such a German political heavy-weight has undermined convictions that Berlin’s power and influence in the assembly is unassailable. But as the dust from the battles settle and MEPs start trying to make amends with colleagues they have alienated, it is not clear who the winners and losers are from the reshuffle.

Brok lost foreign affairs and fellow German centre-right MEP Karl Heinz-Florenz had to give up the chairmanship of the environment, public health and food safety committee, partly because the election of former EPP-ED leader Hans-Gert Pöttering as president of the assembly cost the group points under the D’Hondt system which is used to allocate posts to groups based on the number of MEPs they have. But two other German EPP-ED members, Reimer Böge and Angelika Niebler, managed to take charge of the budgets committee and the industry, research and energy committee (ITRE).

These are vital committees for German interests over the remaining two and a half years of this Parliament’s term. In 2008-09, the EU will launch a review of its spending priorities, including farm support, and sources of revenue. Böge, a budget veteran, has been calling for several years for the co-financing of farm payments (ie, where member states pay a share of aid) as a way of cutting the size of the EU budget, especially the large net contributions from member states like Germany. The importance of the chair of the budgets committee in terms of the implications for spending explains why the Polish EPP-ED delegation is divided, with one side, Civic Platform, wanting the current chair Polish MEP Janus Lewandowski to stay on.

Niebler will be chairing the industry committee which will be responsible for many of the most important legislative proposals under the EU’s energy package. UK EPP-ED member Giles Chichester would have liked to stay on as ITRE chairman but the UK Conservatives had to settle for the agriculture committee which should go to Neil Parish. While this will be an interesting period for discussions on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy with the planned review of spending, MEPs have relatively little power in this area.

Last week they voted to reject a Commission proposal on introducing voluntary modulation (under which member states can opt to transfer part of the funding for direct market support instruments to rural development). But the Commission and the member states will just ignore the MEPs’ position given their purely consultative role on farm policy.

The environment, public health and food safety committee is still one of the more important ones in the Parliament and so was a logical target for Czech MEP Miroslav Ouzký.

But the real question is whether the price that the Poles paid to install Jacek Saryusz-Wolski as chairman of the foreign affairs committee was too high. The push by the former minister for European affairs for Brok’s job proved divisive in Poland with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ringing Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk to clarify which post the Polish delegation wanted, amid splits over whether foreign affairs or budgets was the more important for Polish interests.

Learning of the call, President Lech Kaczynski accused Tusk of unconstitutional interference in Poland’s internal affairs. But Brok, despite his disappointment, tried to combat Kaczynski’s attempts to make political capital from the opposition party’s move, saying that the Poles were perfectly entitled to the foreign affairs post under Parliament’s internal rules.

While Brok may be feeling the loss of his prized committee, the post was mainly prestigious, given Parliament’s limited formal powers in the field of foreign policy. Nevertheless, MEPs have made a difference in the debate over enlargement in recent years, especially on Turkey. There may be consolations for Brok ahead. He is being talked of as a possible representative of Parliament in the inter-governmental conference to be launched under the Portuguese presidency to renegotiate the EU constitution, a role he played for the Amsterdam and Nice treaties.

On a broader political front, relations between the Polish delegation and other delegations within the EPP-ED group, notably the Germans, are said to have suffered deeply from the arguments over the committee chairs. This dispute follows close on the heels of the narrow election win of French MEP Joseph Daul as leader of the EPP-ED group, with only around 20 votes more than his Swedish rival Gunnar Hökmark. This has also exacerbated the tensions in the group, not least between members of old and new member states. As one Parliament observer put it, the group would now "have to spend some time healing its wounds".

Committee chairs

(Old chair -> New chair)

Foreign affairs: Elmar Brok (EPP-ED, Ger)-> Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP-ED, Pol)

Budgets: Janus Lewandowski (EPP-ED, Pol)-> Reimer Böge (EPP-ED, Ger)

Budgetary Control: Szabolcs Fazakas (PES, Hun)-> Herbert Bösch (PES, Aus)

Environment: Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP-ED, Ger)-> Miroslav Ouzký (EPP-ED, Cze)

Industry, Research, Energy: Giles Chichester (EPP-ED, UK)-> Angelika Niebler (EPP-ED, Ger)

Agriculture: Joseph Daul (EPP-ED, Fra)-> Neil Parish (EPP-ED, UK)

Development: Luisa Morgantini (EUL-NGL, Ita)-> Josep Borrell (PES, Spa)

International Trade: Enrique Baron Crespo (PES, Spa)-> Helmut Markov (EUL-NGL, Ger)

Unchanged chairs

Economic and Monetary Affairs: Pervenche Berès (PES, Fra)

Employment and Social Affairs: Jan Andersson (PES, Swe)

Internal Market and Consumer Protection: Arlene McCarthy (PES, UK)

Regional Development: Gerardo Galeote (EPP-ED, Spa)

Legal Affairs: Giuseppe Gargani (EPP-ED, Ita)

Transport and Tourism: Paolo Costa (ALDE, Ita)

Fisheries: Philippe Morillon (ALDE, Fra)

Culture and Education: Nikolaos Sifunakis (PES, Gre)

Civil Liberties: Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, Fra)

Constitutional Affairs: Jo Leinen (PES, Ger)

Petitions: Marcin Libicki (UEN, Pol)

Women’s Rights, Gender Equality: Anna Zaborska (EPP-ED, Slovak)

Security and Defence: Karl von Wogau (EPP-ED, Ger)

Equitable Life Inquiry: Mairead McGuinness (EPP-ED, Ire)

Temporary CIA committee: Carlos Coehlo (EPP-ED, Por)

The fight over the chairs of the European Parliament’s committees, some of the most sought-after jobs in the assembly, should finally end this week after a drawn out period of some of the most bitter wrangling the Parliament has seen in a long time.