The 9th European Parliament (EP) hold its inaugural session on 2 July in Strasbourg. This term there are 7 political groups, one less than during the 8th EP. 61 % of the MEPs are new in the European Parliament. During the first plenary session David Sassoli was elected in the second round as President of the EP by 345 out of 667 votes. 14 Vice-Presidents and 5 Quaestors also were elected during the First Plenary session. Voting on the size of Parliament’s 20 committees and two sub-committees also took place. The Committee on Culture and Education includes 31 Members.
On July 10, the constitutive meeting to elect Chair and Vice-Chairs of the committees was held. Chairs and Vice-Chairs are elected with 2.5 years mandate. For the CULT Committee:
· Ms Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE) is elected as Chair.
· 1st Vice-Chair: Mr Romeo FRANZ (Greens/EFA, DE)
· 2nd Vice-Chair: Ms Dace MELBĀRDE (ECR, LV)
· The 3rd and 4th Vice-Chairs will be elected in a forthcoming meeting.
The first meeting of the CULT committee took place on July 22. On the agenda have been already a number of important subjects such as the general budget of the European Union for 2020. Votes on the decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations were held on following topics:
· Erasmus': the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport;
· Establishing the Creative Europe programme (2021 to 2027);
· Establishing the European Solidarity Corps programme.
The next meetings of CULT Committee will take place on 4-5 September.
Further Information
Electing Parliament’s Vice-Presidents and Quaestors
EP Quaestors elected, Parliament Bureau complete
European Parliament Committees