Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), The European parliament has voted on the leadership of two of its most important committees.
MEPs decided on who will steer the two committees – Internal Market and Consumer Protection and committee on Budgets – for the next few years.
The two committees are among the most influential in the assembly and these are the latest in a series of elections to committees after the EU wide poll in June.
The Greens/EFA MEP Anna Cavazzini was re-elected as Chair of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection at its inaugural meeting.
Afterwards Cavazzini told this site: “The Green Deal secures the competitiveness of our economy and the Single Market is central to the green and digital twin transition.
“I look forward to continue my work as Chair of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee to make the Single Market fit for the challenges of our time, so that people, businesses, and the planet benefit.
“The EU Circular Economy Act announced by EU Commission President von der Leyen can help reduce our massive consumption of resources with clear reduction targets and a single market for second-hand products and materials.
“A major lever for the Green Deal will also be the reorientation of public procurement, with which we will boost demand for sustainable goods and services. In this way, the internal market will gradually become a tool against the climate crisis.”
The MEP went on, “The high level of EU consumer protection needs an update in times of rapid digitalization and online trade to create digital fairness in the power imbalance between tech companies and consumers.”
Meanwhile, the Committee on Budgets has re-elected ECR MEP Johan Van Overtveldt as its chairman.
Van Overtveldt entered the European Parliament for the first time in 2014 for the Flemish centre-right party N-VA.
A financial scientist and Journalist, he served as Belgian Finance Minister from October 2014 to 2018.
He was re-elected to the European Parliament in the two subsequent European elections and has been chairman of the Committee on Budgets since 2019. He is also a member of the Bureau of the ECR Group.
Speaking after his election, Van Overtveldt said, “I am honoured to be re-elected as Chair of the Budget Committee, and to have the confidence of my colleagues.
“I therefore look forward to a constructive cooperation. After all, important work awaits the Budget Committee over the next months and years.
“The annual budgets and the preparation of the next Multiannual Financial Framework are of course the cornerstones of our work.”
He said, “I sincerely hope that we can continue to evolve towards a future-proof budget that stimulates investment, supports the purchasing power of citizens and the competitiveness of our companies, and focuses on real and current needs, such as the support for Ukraine and strengthening military capacities in the European Union. It also remains our task to safeguard the quality of expenditures.”
