Euraffex Documenta tion:

Coordinators – what is their role and who are they?

As anyone following the legislative work of the European Parliament soon discovers, one of the most important

roles in each Commit tee is tha t of the coordinators, ye t it is also one of the hardest roles to find of ficial

information about . Unlike the Chairs and vice-chairs of the commit tees they are for instance not automatically

listed on the websites of the Commit tees. To help overcome this, the Euraffex team has prepared this brief

explanation of what it actually is that the coordinators do – as well as a list of all the known coordinators1.

In the European Parliament all the committees are

built up with a somewhat similar structure: They all

have a Commit tee Chair and a number of Vice-

Chairs.These are the ones who decide on many formal

procedures and it also them who chair the meetings

and the votes. The names and roles of these can all be

found on the official website of the European

Parliament . Behind the scenes however, there is

another very important group in each commit tee ,

these are calles the Coordinators. They are so called

because they are coordinating not only the work of

their political group in the Commit tee but also to some

extent the work of the Committee itself.

For most people outside the Parliament they are

maybe best known for their role in distributing reports

and opinions, first between the political groups and

later amongst members of their own group.

Together with the Commit tee Chair it is also the

Coordinators who decide if the Committee wishes do

draw up an opinion to a report in another Committee .

If a Committee decides on producing an opinion, the

rapporteurship of this opinion is distributed in the

same way as the reports (that is, by the coordinators).

In much the same way the coordinators can further

decide to draw up a so-called own-initiative report on

a subject .

It is the coordinators that often express the general

view of their respective groups when the Committee is

having hearings of for instance Commissioners or

agencies, just like it is the coordinators who will

debate and recommend the approval (or rejec tion) of

candidates for the European Commission and the

agencies.

They also play an important role in deciding on the

need of commissioning studies or on the set ting up

(and the composition of the panels) of official hearings

and workshops of the committee .

In fulfilling their roles the coordinators are of course

expected to represent the views of their political

groups, but in reality much of the decision is taken by

the coordinators alone. Even if decisions are later

discussed with the group members, it is often after a

decision has been taken. This of course makes the

coordinators interesting for anyone hoping to

understand or to influence the parliamentary work on

a given subject

Unlike the Chairs and vice-Chairs that are formally

voted upon by the entire committee . Instead they are

chosen by ei ther their political group as such or by the

committee members from the political group.

Coordinator mee tings are normally held as closed

meetings during each Committee week. However,

should the need arise the chairman of the Committee

can invite the coordinators to an extraordinary

coordinators' meeting. These can either take place

during the plenary sessions in Strasbourg or during one

of the group weeks. This can be needed if something

urgent has occurred or if the coordinators did not

manage to get through their complete agenda a t the

regular coordinators' meeting and one or more topics

cannot be postponed till the next ordinary

coordinators' meeting.

On the next page you can find a list of all known

coordinators (per July 2014).

1 Please note tha t there are still a few unknown committees for which the GUE-Group has not yet appointed coordinators.

When it comes to the ECR-group in some committees the coordinators are only « acting coordinators » and these will either be confirmed or

changed in September.

1

Please note that a D: in front of a name means that it is the deputy coordinator

2