European Parliament Intergroups

Intergroups

What are they?

Intergroups are ways to share views on cross-cutting issues or very specific issues between MEP’s from diferent political groups and civil society. Normal committee’s of the European Parliament are somewha limited because they don’t deal with issues which are a cross-cutting like for example energy issues at ports (is this something for the ITRE Committee or the TREN committee?). The European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development is a good example of an intergroup that is cutting across various policy areas. Other Intergroups focus on very specific topics. Examples of these very focused Intergroups are the Intergroup on Youth, the Intergroup on Tibet, and the Intergroup on the Sahara. In short Intergroups are platforms for MEP's to discuss cross-cutting issues /specific issues amongst different political families and the civil society.  

What are they not?

Inter-groups are informal groups within the European Parliament which consist of members of the European Parliament and members of civil society. It is important to know that while the rules of procedure govern the establishment and functioning of the Intergroups, they are not Parliament bodies and therefore may not express Parliament’s opinion. Moreover, they may not use the name nor the logo of the European Parliament nor any name which might lead to confusion with the official bodies of the European Parliament such as parliamentary committees, interparliamentary delegations and joint parliamentary committees. In addition, Intergroups may not undertake any activities which resemble the official activities of Parliament or of its bodies.

Why do Intergroups matter?

The strength of the Intergroup really depends on how active it is, and how involved the MEP’s are. Formally an Intergroup can’t take any position, nor can it vote on something, however Intergroups do have the power to bring something under the attention of key policymakers in the EU. By organizing meetings with MEP’s from different political groups they can turn the attention of the MEP’s to a subject which was previously unknown. By inviting certain speakers to these meetings they can signal in certain views on a matter. They also are powerfull enough to invite Commissionairs for an exchange of views. Also by simply having an Intergroup on on an issue signals that the European Parliament finds this issue important.

Examples of active Intergroups


The Intergroup on Climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development is run by the European Bureau for Conservation and Development. They organise debates on issues ranging from Aquaculture to the Greening of the CAP. Their succes lies in their tightly run secretariat, their knack of focusing on relevant topics and their ability to attract important speakers. 

List and information of all the intergroups


Sustainable Hunting, Biodiversity, Countryside Activities and Forests
Chair: Véronique Mathieu
List of members
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 




Name intergroup: Ways of Saint James / Caminos de Santiago
Chair: Francisco José Millán Mon
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 




Media 
Chair: Jean-Marie Cavada
List of members: 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Urban
Chair: Jan Olbrycht
List of members 
Website: www.urban-intergroup.eu 
Affiliated organisation: 


Public Services (SGI - SSGI)
Chair: Françoise Castex
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Trade Union
Chair: Alejandro Cercas
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Western Sahara
Chair: Norbert Neuser
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Tibet
Chair: Thomas Mann
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Disability
Chair: Ádám Kósa
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages
Chair: Kinga Gál and Carl Haglund
List of members: 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Mountains, Islands and Sparsely-Populated Regions
Chair: Bogusław Sonik
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Baltic-Europe
Chair: Tunne Kelam
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Rights - LGBT
Chair: Michael Cashman and Ulrike Lunacek
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Social Economy / Economie Sociale
Chair: Mario Mauro and Marc Tarabella
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Mers et Zones Côtières / Seas and Coastal Areas
Chair: Corinne Lepage
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 




Sky and Space / Ciel et Espace
Chair: Vittorio Prodi
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Anti-racisme & Diversity
Chair: Emine Bozkurt
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: ENAR: European Network Against Racism


Youth Issues / Jeunesse
Chair: Damien Abad
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: European Youth Forum 


Family and the Right of the Child & Bioethics
Chair: Anna Záborská, Miroslav Mikolášik and Margrete Auken
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 




Viticulture, Fruits et Legumes, Tradition et Alimentation de qualite
Chair: Astrid Lulling
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Welfare & conservation of animals
Chair: SCHLYTER Carl
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


SME "small and medium-sized enterprise"
Chair: KARAS Othmar
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Ageing and intergenerational solidarity
Chair: MORAES Claude, CABRNOCH Milan, GUTIÉRREZ-CORTINES Cristina, LAMBERT Jean, LIOTARD Kartika Tamara, LYNNE Elizabeth, van NISTELROOIJ Lambert
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


Climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development / Changement climatique, biodiversité et développement durable
Chair: Struan Stevenson
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: European Bureau for Conservation and Development


Extreme poverty and human rights
Chair: MÉNDEZ DE VIGO Íñigo
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 


New media
Chair: Marietje Schaake
List of members 
Website: 
Affiliated organisation: 

EU Monitoring

Monitoring the EU Process.


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For people working in EU Affairs, monitoring EU policies is part of their daily routines. But before you become efficient and smart at it, you must first go through a lengthy learning process where you discover where to find the information and how to organize yourself. In this text we will explain how to organize yourself and where to find the information you need to stay on top of EU developments.

Organizing yourself.

Monitoring EU policies and legislation should be built-in to your daily routine. Ideally there are several moments when you commit yourself to plow through agenda's, newspapers and whatnot. It starts with your daily routine. In the morning (along with a cup of coffee) try to read the more general papers such as the Financial Times, Euractiv, Europolitics, the EUobserver. Then in the afternoon, check the Commissions EU Midday Express for latest news and speeches from Commissionaires. Speeches are not to be underestimated as they always reveal hints at future developments.

If it is a Committee Week drop by at the European Parliament to check what hearings are taking place at the EP. Posters are hanging on several walls indicating which hearing is taking place where. While you should already know this by looking at the websites of the political parties, my experience is that in general hearings are very poorly communicated, so nothing beats actually going to the EP to look at the poster (provided you have an entrance badge). At the end of the week (I always do this on Fridays) you should take a look ahead at the coming week. Especially look at plenary and Committee Agenda's. This is also a great moment to look at the agenda of the national parliament, as you can't totally ignore the national dimension.

If you want to makes sure you are involved at the very beginning of a policy process you should pay attention to green papers, white papers, consultations or other discussions that are taking place. These normally hint at serious EU activity on a subject in the future. Apart from these there is no substituting the periodical coffee or lunch with a European Commission civil servant. You can find their names and telephone numbers at European Commission the directory. The same goes for parliamentary assistants, political advisors of the parties and committee secretariats.

On a more strategic level there are a couple moments in the year which deserve your special attention. The European Commission publishes it's working program in November. This should be analyzed thoroughly (especially the Annexes). The same goes for the program of the Council Presidency, which is published right before a presidency starts. Don't only look at the priorities, also look at the various (informal) meetings which are going to take place during the presidency. Finally, the European Union has a EU Calender, where more relevant dates for the whole year can be found. I suggest to make every month a quarter forecast of the EU Calendar.

Here are all the link's again

Daily

Financial Times,

Euractiv,

Europolitics
Commissions EU Midday Express

Weekly

EPP Group

ALDE Group

Plenary

Committee Agenda's

Monthly / Periodically

green papers

consultations

European Commission the directory

EU Calender

Yearly

working program