The European elections are over. But what happens next in Brussels? Jochem van Stiphout, adviser on European and International Affairs at the Association, updates us.
What actually happens after the European elections?
"After the elections, the results must be officially confirmed. The various political parties must then join a political group in the European Parliament. In addition, you see that different Dutch parties join the same political group. For example, the CDA, NSC and the BBB will most likely join the Christian Democrats. Parties therefore join a group with the same views and ideas. As a party, you can also continue on your own, but then you must have at least 23 parliamentarians from seven countries in your ranks. If you can't or don't want to comply, you automatically belong to the non-attached members. Now it is true that groups do matter. This is because the size of the groups determines the speaking time and who gets committee chairs."
"The size of the groups is used to determine the speaking time and who gets committee chairs"
How many parliamentarians are there?
"In the new parliament there will be a total of 720 parliamentarians, now there are 705. Each election, the number of MPs in each country is adjusted; This depends on the growth or shrinkage of the population in a country. Incidentally, the new parliamentarians will not be officially appointed until 16 July, when the first parliamentary session will follow on 19 July."
Van Stiphout emphasises that the chairman and the fourteen vice-presidents must also be appointed for this first meeting. The 'premiere of parliament' is also important because it is when it is decided who will sit on which committees (e.g. transport, foreign affairs, environment, consumer affairs, financial markets). According to the European Advisor, these decisions are important for the course of the rest of the mandate (parliamentary term). "The size of these committees varies, by the way; On average, a parliamentarian is a member of two or three committees. On average, there are about 50 participants per committee. Incidentally, it is not compulsory to become a member of a committee, but that does mean that as a member of parliament you do not actually do anything, you are only active during the parliamentary session. After all, the real work takes place within the committees."
"The real work takes place within the committees"
It is not only the parliament that must be elected, but also the European Commission that must have a president. How does that work?
"Formally, this choice for the president is not up to parliament, but to the heads of government. They nominate him or her; where decisions are taken by a qualified majority; These are 20 out of 27 Member States. Sometimes this process takes a very long time, but when we were in the previous mandate we only knew who was going to be chairman in September. At the moment, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen is the president and she is expected to become president again. Of course, this will only be possible if the Member States will also support it in this round. After that, it must also be approved by parliament. After which the search for the other 26 European Commissioners can begin."
Once that proposed team is in place, all European Commissioners will have to go through a hearing in the European Parliament, which will take place in October, Van Stiphout continues. "These candidates are being questioned very critically by the European Parliament. In this phase you see that some candidates fail, last mandate this was one, but sometimes four did not make it through the selection. In this session, they have to defend why they do or do not make certain choices. Language plays an important role in this; most of them do part in English, part in French and part in their own language (if applicable). Frans Timmermans also used this moment at his hearing five years ago to show off his language skills and even answered in eight different languages."
In preparation, the candidates often lock themselves up for weeks at a time; They need to be able to answer a lot of questions by heart. So it really is a big deal and a political spectacle because the entire session can be followed live, the European lobbyist continues. "After the hearing, there will be a vote immediately, so as a candidate you can also see who voted against you. Each commissioner must get a majority of parliament behind him to be appointed. If that doesn't work, there must be another candidate for that post. There are always a few who die. Only when each commissioner has been approved will they be able to start work on the new mandate, which will probably not be until November. Finally, when the entire team is approved, everyone is sworn in, and the real work can begin."
Text: Christel Dieleman
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