This week, the clocks at the European Parliament are reset to mark the beginning of the institution's eighth legislative period.
In the research world, the main interest is in which of the MEPs on the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) has been re-elected, and if connections forged by scientists and small businesses over the past years remain or have been severed.
It’s also time to look for clues on the make-up of the new ITRE committee, which will emerge after weeks of horse trading and wrangling among the political groups and national delegations.
With the conservative European Peoples’ Party (EPP) securing the most seats in the parliament, it’s likely their members will feel entitled to prominent positions in the big economic portfolios, which includes ITRE.
Delegation size is also a clue as to which countries will receive chairing rights of the big committees. In 2009, Italy was given control of the highest number of committees, ITRE included, followed by France and Germany.
Movers and shakers
Many senior ITRE members, including the UK’s Vicky Ford, Germany’s Herbert Reul and Austria’s Paul Rubig were re-elected.
Having secured less than 20,000 votes, the Italian Amalia Sartori, ITRE’s incumbent chair, is the most prominent loser. The parliament’s youngest member, Sweden’s Amelia Andersdotter, is also bowing out.
Denmark’s Britta Thomsen, a prominent negotiator for Horizon 2020 did not get re-elected. "I am very surprised, because I think, yes, I've done a fantastic job,” she told Danish television station TV 2 News.
Other members of ITRE, including UK’s Giles Chichester, Germany’s Jürgen Creutzmann and Portugal’s Maria Da Graça Carvalho, did not stand for re-election.
Shuffled deck: how ITRE committee members fared
Back in:
- Patrizia Toia, Italy
- Jens Rohde, Denmark
- Evžen Tosenovsky, Czech Republic
- Ivo Belet, Belgium
- Bendt Bendtsen, Denmark
- Reinhard Bütikofer, Germany
- Pilar del Castillo Vera, Spain
- Brian Crowley, Ireland
- Christian Ehler, Germany
- Vicky Ford, UK
- Adam Gierek, Poland
- András Gyürk, Hungary
- Krisjanis Karins, Latvia
- Béla Kovács, Hungary
- Philippe Lamberts, Belgium
- Marisa Matias, Portugal
- Angelika Niebler, Germany
- Rolandas Paksas, Lithuania
- Aldo Patriciello, Italy
- Herbert Reul, Germany
- Michèle Rivasi, France
- Francisco Sosa Wagner, Spain
- Paul Rubig, Austria
- Claude Turmes, Luxembourg
- Marita Ulvskog, Sweden
- Adina-Ioana Vălean, Romania
- Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgium
- Miloslav Ransdorf, Czech Republic
Lost their seat:
- Amalia Sartori, Italy
- Amelia Andersdotter, Sweden
- Josefa Andres Barea, Spain
- Jean-Pierre Audy, France
- Fabrizio Bertot, Italy
- Gaston Franco, France
- Norbert Glante, Germany
- Robert Goebbels, Luxembourg
- Fiona Hall, UK
- Jacky Hénin, France
- Edit Herczog, Hungary
- Romana Jordan, Slovenia
- Bogdan Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Poland
- Judith Merkies, the Netherlands
- Jaroslav Paška, Slovakia
- Vittorio Prodi, Italy
- Salvador Sedó i Alabart, Spain
- Konrad Szymański, Poland
- Britta Thomsen, Denmark
- Catherine Trautmann, France
- Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Spain
- Zbigniew Zaleski, Poland
- Dimitrios Droutsas, Greece
- Ioannis Tsoukalas, Greece
- Niki Tzavela, Greece
- Vladimir Urutchev, Bulgaria
- Zigmantas Balcytis, Lithuania
Did not stand for re-election:
- Maria Da Graça Carvalho
- Jürgen Creutzmann, Germany
- Giles Chichester, UK
- Teresa Riera Madurell, Spain
- Jan Brezina, Czech Republic
For one incumbent MEP, Sweden’s Kent Johansson, vote counting was still continuing at time of publication.
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