In the January Plenary, the European parliament elected its new President and Vice Presidents, and afterwards the Committees elected new Chairs and Vice-Chairs, below are the results of the elections.
At the Plenary in Strasbourg from 15-19 January, Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat, was elected the new President of the European Parliament from 2012-2014. Receiving 387 votes, Mr Schulz obtained the absolute majority of votes needed. Mr Schulz was previously the head of the S&D group from 2004-2011.
In his inaugural speech, he promised to defend fundamental rights, European solidarity, the interests of citizens, as well as pay greater attention to their concerns, such as healthy food and a clean environment. Priorities for President Schulz will be the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, and ensuring the Parliament has a strong voice in the negotiations concerning the Multi-annual Financial Framework; the reform of agricultural, fisheries, and regional policy; measures to combat climate change; financial market regulation; justice and home affairs; and trade policy.
The 14 Vice Presidents of the European Parliament were also elected. Vice-Presidents are Members of the European Parliament Bureau. The following MEPS were elected as Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament:
- Gianni PITTELLA (S&D, Italy) Re-elected
- Miguel Angel MARTÍNEZ MARTÍNEZ (S&D, Spain) Re-elected
- Anni PODIMATA (S&D, Greece) Re-elected
- Alejo VIDAL-QUADRAS (EPP, Spain) Re-elected
- Georgios PAPASTAMKOS (EPP, Greece)
- Roberta ANGELILLI (EPP, Italy) Re-elected
- Othmar KARAS (EPP, Austria)
- Edward McMILLAN-SCOTT (ALDE, United Kingdom) Re-elected
- Isabelle DURANT (Green/EFA, Belgium) Re-elected
- Alexander ALVARO (ALDE, Germany)
- Rainer WIELAND (EPP, Germany) Re-elected
- Oldřich VLASAK (ECR, Czech Republic)
- László SURJAN (EPP, Hungary) Re-elected
- Jacek PROTASIEWICZ (EPP, Poland)
On 23 January 2011, the Parliamentary Committees elected new Chairs. For the ENVI Committee the new Chair is Matthias GROOTE (S&D, Germany). The three vice chairs are Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, Netherlands) Carl Schlyter (Greens/EFA Sweeden), Dan JØRGENSEN (S&D, Denmark) and János ÀDER (EPP, Czech Republic)
The IMCO Committee re-elected is Malcom HARBOUR (ECR, UK) as its Chair; and the Vice-Chairs are Eija-Riitta KORHOLA (MEP), Bernadette VERGNAUD (S&D, France), Gino Trematerra (EPP, Italy) and Louis GRECH (S&D, Malta).
Amilia SARTORI (EPP, Italy) is the new Chair for the ITRE Committee. The Vice Chairs are Patrizia TOIA (S&D, Italy), Jens ROHDE (ALDE, Denmark), and Dimitrios DROUTSAS (S&D, Greece).and Evzen TOSENOVSKY (ECR, Poland).
The EMPL Committee has elected Pervenche BERES (S&D, France) as chair; and the Vice-chairs are Jean Lambert (Greens/EFA, UK), Nadia HIRSCH (ALDE, Germany), Inês ZUBER (GUE/NGL, Portugal) and Erika MANN (EPP, Germany).