Committee of the Regions welcomes new members as it begins 5-year term
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has welcomed the formal appointment of nearly all its 350 members following approval by the Council of the EU this week. The new assembly will gather in Brussels for the first time at its plenary session on 12 February as it enters a new five-year political term.
Changing of the guard: leadership elections to be held
During the February plenary the leadership is also expected to change: the mandate of both the current interim CoR President, Michel Lebrun (BE/EPP), and First Vice-President , Catiuscia Marini i (IT/PES), who were both elected in June 2014, will come to an end. The new CoR members will formally vote on 12 February to elect the assembly's new leadership.
New term, new order
Following negotiations by all EU national governments, the number of members in the CoR has also changed having been reduced from 353 (following Croatia's accession to the European Union on 1 July 2013) and cut to 350, as required by the Treaty of Lisbon.
There will also be a slight restructure of the CoRs' six existing commissions. These commissions are composed of CoR members and focus on different policy areas that prepare and draft opinions presented for adoption during the assembly's plenary sessions.
List of newly elected CoR members
Information on the plenary session 12 February 2015
The new national composition of the Committee of the Regions
State
Members
State
Members
State
Members
Germany
24
Belgium
12
Ireland
9
United Kingdom
24
Hungary
12
Croatia
9
France
24
Portugal
12
Lithuania
9
Italy
24
Sweden
12
Latvia
7
Spain
21
Bulgaria
12
Slovenia
7
Poland
21
Austria
12
Estonia
6
Romania
15
Slovakia
9
Cyprus
5
Netherlands
12
Denmark
9
Luxembourg
5
Greece
12
Finland
9
Malta
5
Czech Republic
12
TOTAL
350