ABBL

On 18 January 2012, the European Parliament elected its president for the second half of this assembly's mandate.

The new president Martin Schulz is a German Socialist and Democrats (S&D) MEP. In reality this election is not a surprise, as it is the outcome of an agreement between the two main political parties in the European Parliament who, at the start of each mandate, split the mandate in two and hold the presidency in turns.

President Schulz therefore replaces Jerzy Buzek of the European Peoples Party (EPP), who held the presidency for the first half of this mandate. Together with the new president, 14 vice-presidents were also elected as well as 5 quaestors, amongst whom Luxembourg MEP Astrid Lulling was reelected.

These mid-term elections are also the occasion for new votes and new distributions in the Committees. In spite of rumours following the tension in Council with the UK Government, MEP Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK) was reelected as chair of the ECON committee, which has also seen little change in membership. The chairs of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee, MEP Harbour (ECR, UK), and of the Legal Affairs committee, MEP Lehne (EPP, DE), were also reelected.