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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