KEEP TRACK OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EU INSTITUTIONS WITH OUR MOVERS AND SHAKERS COLUMN

Following the German Elections, two MEPS have announced that they will leave their seats in Parliament. Sven Schulze has already taken up his new role as Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Economics in Saxony-Anhalt while Norbert Neuser will leave at the beginning of 2022. Karolin Braunsberger-Reinhold will take over Schulze’s seat, becoming the newest deputy. She previously worked in the mayor’s office manager in Barleben and has been involved in state politics for several years, addressing issues such as internal and external security.

Italian MEP Francesca Donato’s departure from the Identity and Democracy Group has resulted in Matteo Adinolfi replacing her the Regional Development Committee (REGI) and Gerolf Annemans in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON). Donato has gone on to join the Petitions Committee (PETI) as a non-attached member. Evin Incir has also joined the Mediterranean Delegation (DMED) as a member instead of a substitute and Lucia Vuolo is the newest member of the Transport and Tourism Committee (TRAN).

In the previous edition, we reported that Renew Europe would elect a new leader following the departure of Romanian MEP Dacian Cioloș.

French deputy Stéphane Séjourné ran unopposed for the position and the result was confirmed at the session in Strasbourg this week. Italian MEP Nicola Danti and Romanian MEP Dragoș Tudorache have been elected as vice-presidents and said they were looking forward to demonstrating that “politics can be focused on principles, values and concrete results for citizens.” The European People’s Party also held elections and re-elected German MEP Manfred Weber as the leader of the group for a third term. Weber was also running unopposed and received 162 out of 173 votes cast, with 11 abstentions. MEPs Esteban González Pons (Spain) and MEP Esther de Lange (The Netherlands) were re-elected as vice-Presidents.

In national party news, Polish MEP Adam Bielan has left Prawo i Sprawiedliwość to join Partia Republikańska as the newly elected leader, while Dutch MEP Dorien Rookmaker has joined Meer Directe Democratie.

Finally, in the Court of Justice of the European Union, Krisztián Kecsmár from Hungry and Ion Gâlea from Romania have been appointed Judges of the General Court until the end of August 2022.