Profile: Valean, the new ENVI chair, what does she stand for?

The change of leadership at the helm of the Environment and Public Health Committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament in January 2017 is by far the move with the greatest direct impact on policy that took place during the reshuffle. As EP insiders know, ENVI is one of the committees that deals with the biggest number of legislative / binding decisions.

The politics in the ENVI is very complex: the EPP, which is the largest group overall in the EP, is frequently defeated by a liberal-leftist coalition. Therefore, Adina Valean (EPP, Romania), the new Chair of ENVI, will have one of the most difficult jobs in the EP, as she will have to navigate through an array of very different interests and sensitivities and will face an adverse majority.

In this report Vote Watch Europe shows what are the coalition dynamics in ENVI and the positions of the new ENVI chair (compared to the previous one and the EPP as a whole) on some of the key issues dealt with by this committee.