The newly elected European Parliament started its work in the middle of July 2009, with a new President and committee members. But not everyone was happy with the new division of power within the parliament’s structure.
Despite starting its term with a Polish president, the first time someone from a new member state has held such a position, there has been dissatisfaction surrounding the committee members. Just one committee chair is from a new member state, Danuta Huebner, a former commissioner who is also Polish.
The EPP-ED (Group of the European People's Party), in the centre right, did well in the elections while the socialists did not do as well as expected. The greens made progress, but so did the far right, and women are still not equally represented despite efforts to secure gender equality.
The European NGO confederation for relief and development CONCORD is organising a mass lobby of MEPs during its General Assembly in November 2009. Participants in the General Assembly are encouraged to make contact with their MEPs in advance of the event. Please contact TRIALOG policy officer Rebecca Steel-Jasińska (trialog@concordeurope.org) for more information and CONCORD’s template letter.
Links:
The European Parliament website: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm
Eastern Europe big loser in Parliament horse-trading: http://www.euractiv.com/en/eu-elections/eastern-europe-big-loser-parliament-horsetrading/article-184312
2009-2014: A centre-right parliament: http://www.euractiv.com/en/eu-elections/2009-2014-centre-right-european-parliament/article-183383
Information provided by Rebecca Steel-Jasińska, TRIALOG
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