A recent survey of 2,752 EU citizens across ten member states reveals that Europeans are calling for an EU foreign policy based on values such as security, human rights, and freedom. They believe that the current veto-system in the EU Council hinders a more unified foreign policy.
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Following the European elections in May, MEPs and EU member states will shape the transition into the new term. These are the next steps towards the formation of the Parliament and the Commission.
The European People's Party local dialogues are a central part of the grassroots engagement for the 2019 European elections, an initiative to be launched in Sofia, Bulgaria on 9 March 2018.
As EU leaders gather today (17 March) for yet another summit, trying to fix the migrant crisis, successive elections in member countries have dwarfed the largest political force in the EU following the 2014 European elections.
The European Peoples’ Party, who is the largest in the European Parliament with 251 MEPs out of the total of 751, is now the third force, by the number of its heads of state and government sitting at the summits. The most influential leader of the EPP is without any doubt the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Socialists and Democrats, who have 190 MEPs, are now the number one force at summits.
But perhaps more surprisingly, the liberals, who have only 70 MEPs in the European Parliament and are the fourth largest political group there, are now the second largest force at EU summits.
All of the changes in the European Commission reshuffle. Jonathan Faull, the European Union’s top civil servant for financial services regulation, will head up an EU executive “Brexit” taskforce dedicated to the United Kingdom’s referendum on its membership in the bloc.
After a first plenary session and a series committee meetings in early July 2014, key positions were distributed in the European Parliament.
The European Parliament’s 22 committees held their first meeting on Monday (7 July). On the agenda was the election of committee chairs and vice-chairs.
The week before, MEPs gathered for the Parliament's first plenary session in Strasbourg, and elected a president, vice-presidents and quaestors. They also appointed the leader(s) of their faction.
The final leading positions were settled after one Vice-President, Corina Cretu, was selected to take up a Commissioner role in Jean-Claude Juncker's EU executive team.
Find an overview of the Parliament's key faces for 2014-2019 in our infographic.
