On Tuesday, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) elected Veronika Vrecionová (ECR, CZ) as committee Chair for the first half of the legislature.

MEPs also elected Daniel Buda (EPP, RO), Norbert Lins (EPP, DE), Eric Sargiacomo (S&D, FR) as Vice-Chairs. The 4th Vice-Chair will be elected at a forthcoming meeting.

Following her election by 31 votes in favour, 8 against, and 10 abstentions Veronika Vrecionová said: “We are starting a new parliamentary term, I am very pleased with the confidence that colleagues gave to me and I'm looking forward for constructive debates. I will work hard for better conditions for family farmers and small and medium farmers. We must listen to them; we have to massively reduce red tape and the whole common agricultural policy has to reflect the fact that we have started accession dialogue with Ukraine. I personally will focus on animal welfare.”

The vote on the AGRI Committee Bureau took place by secret electronic vote.

Daniel Buda was elected as the 1st Vice-Chair by 33 votes in favour, 9 against, and 5 abstentions.

Norbert Lins was elected as the 2nd Vice-Chair by 36 votes in favour (and was thus elected by absolute majority of the votes cast against Mireia Borrás Pabón (PfE, ES) who received 10 votes in favour).

Eric Sargiacomo was elected as the 3rd Vice-Chair by 39 votes in favour, 3 against, without abstentions.

Main responsibilities of the Chair

The Chair presides over committee and coordinators’ meetings, represents the committee both within and outside the European Parliament and presides legislative negotiations led by the committee. Furthermore, the Chair has authority over voting procedures and rules on the admissibility of amendments.

Committee Chair and Vice-Chairs form the bureau, which is responsible for their respective committee’s smooth functioning. The committee bureau holds office for two and a half years (half of the legislature).

Rules on the composition of the bureau

The process for the election of committee bureaus is defined in Rule 219 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, according to which the 49 AGRI full members can vote by acclamation or by secret ballot.