The election of Hannes Swoboda (Austria) as the new S&D leader to replace Martin Schulz - now holding the European Parliament presidency - completes the lineup of the Conference of Group Presidents.

Beyond these two, the members are the chairs and co-chairs of the other political groups: Joseph Daul (European People’s Party, France), Guy Verhofstadt (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Belgium), Rebecca Harms (Germany) and Daniel Cohn-Bendit (France) for the Greens-European Free Alliance, Martin Callanan (European Conservatives and Reformists, UK), Lothar Bisky (European United Left-Nordic Green Left, Germany) and Francesco Enrico Speron (Italy) and Nigel Farage (UK) for the Europe of Freedom and Democracy. Besides Swoboda, only one name has changed at the top of the EP’s political groups: Callanan replaced Jan Zahradil (Czech Republic) in December.

The Conference of Presidents, headed by the EP president, is in charge of organising practical aspects of Parliament’s work and deciding on all questions relating to legislative planning, such as the timetable and agenda for plenary meetings, the composition of the committees and delegations, and their remits and legislative programming. It is also consulted on matters concerning relations between the EP and other EU institutions, third countries and extra-Community organisations. “It is in no way in charge of giving a political orientation to the work of the Parliament,” explains a senior MEP. “It is a sort of magma in which those who speak the most are the least important,” adds the deputy. The Conference of Presidents usually meets twice a month in camera. It takes its decisions by consensus or by weighted vote, reflecting the number of MEPs in each political group.