The New Political Context Challenges and Opportunities Barbara Helfferich European Anti Poverty Network

Overview The New European Parliament The New European Commission What are Opportunities? What are the Challenges

The New European Parliament

The new political context in the EP EP is considerably different from that of the last mandate for several reasons. The S&D has enlarged relative to EPP EPP still the biggest group The Gue on the left has grown significantly, as has ECR on the right. Less predictable outcomes EPP and S&D Group/political

Political Groups in the EP Three groups will decide voting outcomes S&D – supportive in general of EAPN EPP – not really developed relations Alde (Swing vote) – liberal –will support more democracy in the Semester, but otherwise unpredictable -------- GUE – European United Left ECR – European Conservatives and Conformists EFD – Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy

KEY Parliamentary Committees Employment Committee and Economic Committee Work on AGS in February-produce 2 separate reports Rapporteurs work on key issues before the Spring Council EP Semester Working Groups

Specific Opportunities in relation to the new EP Inputting into the reports of the Committees Own Initiative Reports by the EP, ie Interinstitutional Agreement Shaping the Hearings of the Commissioners Intergroups Monitoring ESF

The New Commission More political – 18 Prime ministers and ministers More complete restructuring of the responsibilities within the European Commission DGs and personnel will change Work programmes of the DG are being prepared now Decisions on consultation and annual convention will wait until the new Commissioner has taken up her mandate.

President Junckers’ Priorities “I want to work for a Union that is committed to democracy and reform; that is not meddlesome but works for its citizens rather than against them. I want to work for a Union that delivers." "My number one priority and the connecting thread running through each and every proposal will be getting Europe growing again and getting people back to work. To do this, within the first three months of my mandate, I will present a Jobs, Growth and Investment Package to generate an extra EUR 300 billion in investment over the next three years." "SMEs are the backbone of our economies, creating 85% of new jobs in Europe – we can't bury them in paperwork. We must unshackle them from burdensome regulation." "It is in everyone's interest that energy not be used as a political tool. It's time Europe stood tall on its own feet, pooling our resources, combining infrastructures and uniting our negotiating power." "The rescue of the euro was necessary but was weak on the social side. It is unacceptable to me that workers and retired people had to shoulder the burden of structural reform programmes, while ship owners and financial speculators became even richer. In the future we need a more democratically legitimate replacement for the Troika and thorough social impact assessments for any new support programmes.“ "We need more solidarity in our immigration policy. I will step up cooperation with third countries to deal with irregular migration more robustly and I will promote a new European policy on legal migration to put Europe on the map as a favourite destination for talent."

Restructuring the European Commission DGs have new names – DG EMPL – Inclusion dropped replaced by skills and mobility DG EMPL gets vocational training and adult educations from DG Education DG Empl gets Labour market analysis Internal restructuring with DG EMPL – without the Commissioner’s input No clear work programme yet established- first draft is circulating taking account of Junker/Marianne Thyssen Deadline for all this is the 1st of November – new Commission takes up mandate

Links with Member States Semester officers in place Expert networks in the Member States will be redefined MEPs need to maintain their constitutencies- success of EMIN Engaging national Parliaments

Thank you for your attention! Barbara Helfferich Barbara.helfferich@eapn.eu