EU Parliament moves closer to setting up defence committee in the autumn

4 months ago 18

A preliminary deal on the set-up of the European Parliament’s committees could be adjusted in September to make the current security and defence subcommittee a full-fledged committee, as the Socialists appear to have given up their resistance to this step, parliamentary sources told Euractiv.

The creation of a full-fledged defence committee would be another step towards the increase of the EU’s role in defence matters and a rare reorganisation of the structures where most of the Parliament’s policy work is taking place.

Despite months of speculation over the creation of a new defence committee, this week’s parliamentary vote on the size of current committees and their chairs was not expected to yield any new committee structures.

However, the main political groups, including the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), liberals Renew Europe, and the centre-left Socialists (S&D), are now close to agreeing on setting up a defence committee in the autumn, as four sources told Euractiv and Table Media reported first.

The delay is set to ensure that committee competences mirror the Commission portfolios of the next mandate, which the future president is set to reveal in September at the earliest.

Socialists bow

Defence matters are currently handled by the Security and Defence sub-committee (SEDE), under the umbrella of the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET). Work on defence industrial policy is split also between the Industry (ITRE) and Internal Market (IMCO) committees.

Two of three groups expected to form the Commission majority – the EPP and Renew – were in favour of upgrading SEDE to a full-fledged committee for defence matters.

But the deal was blocked as parts of the S&D – the third group – were opposed to upgrading SEDE without a parallel upgrade to the Human Rights sub-committee (DROI), to keep proportionality between human rights and defence.

Euractiv understands that the Socialists are close to dropping their opposition, however. While the Socialists still prefer an upgrade for DROI, it is no longer a strict condition for some of the group’s sceptics, a source close to the S&D told Euractiv.

Instead, the group is open to agreeing to a full-fledged defence committee as part of a wider deal, the source said.

If it is to be part of a deal on the Commission majority, the committee deal would have to be settled this week. Otherwise, it could delay the confirmation vote for incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of the EPP, scheduled for Thursday (18 July).

“Negotiations are still on, both on the [chairs of the] committees as well as (…) regarding the competences of the different committees,” a spokesperson of the EPP told Euractiv on Monday. This was confirmed by the source close to the S&D.

While another source in the European Parliament confirmed that a majority of political groups now support a SEDE upgrade, they said there is controversy over an upgrade of the Health subcommittee, SANT, which the EPP insists on.

Strack-Zimmermann wins the race

Both upgrades were not included in a provisional deal on the distribution of chair positions between the groups last week, which did not include new committees, in the absence of certainty over the new Commission portfolios, a source close to the EPP told Euractiv on Friday.

An overlap between the two structures is desirable to ensure that committees deal with actual EU executive-level policymaking, they added.

Von der Leyen has expressed support for creating a new defence commissioner portfolio, but the exact portfolios are conditional on her re-election this week.

Meanwhile, Renew in particular has pushed for the defence committee upgrade, which is supposed to reflect the need to strengthen Europe’s defence industrial capacities following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The group has secured the subcommittee chair, intending it for Germany’s Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP/Renew), one of the group’s EU lead candidates in the election campaign, two sources told Euractiv.

This indicates that she has won Renew’s internal race against the current chair, Nathalie Loiseau of the French delegation Ensemble, who had told Euractiv she wants to keep the job.

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Zoran Radosavljevic/Rajnish Singh]