After the elections

MEPs elect a new President of the European Parliament, vice-presidents and quaestors and take other important decisions about the organisation of their work, for example how many Members sit in each parliamentary committee.

The election of a new President of the European Parliament is the MEPs’ first task when they gather for the first time in a plenary session.

MEPs elect the President for a two-and-a-half year term (i.e., half of the parliamentary term) that is renewable.

Nominations can be made by either a political group or a group of MEPs that represent at least one twentieth of all MEPs (36 Members).

The vote is secret. The candidate who secures an absolute majority of the votes cast becomes President.

If none of the candidates wins an absolute majority after three rounds of voting, MEPs choose in the fourth round between the two leading candidates in the third round.

After the election of the President of the institution, Parliament proceeds with the election of vice-presidents, followed by the election of quaestors.

Vice-presidents and quaestors are elected for two-and-a-half year terms, just like the President.

Nominations can be made by either a political group or a group of MEPs that represent at least one twentieth of all MEPs (36 Members).

The vote is secret and is held simultaneously for all candidates. Each MEP may cast as many votes as there are posts available. Candidates who secure an absolute majority of the votes cast are elected in the order of the number of votes obtained. If fewer than 14 candidates are elected in the first ballot, a second ballot is held under the same conditions.

If a third round of voting is necessary, those remaining candidates who win the highest number of votes fill in the rest of the seats.

The five quaestors are elected following the same process.

MEPs decide during the first plenary session on the number of members sitting in each parliamentary committee.

Political groups then appoint full members and substitutes to the committees. The allocation of committee seats for each political group reflects the composition of the full Parliament.

At the first committee meeting, which follows the first plenary meeting, committee members elect chairs and vice-chairs for a period of two-and-a-half years.

The President of the European Commission is nominated by the leaders of the EU countries who meet in the European Council. The successful candidate must earn the support of a majority of MEPs.

The European Parliament supports the lead candidate process, in which European political parties announce their candidates for the President of the European Commission prior to the elections.

Electing the President of the European Commission is one of the first tasks of the new Parliament.

The candidate put forward by the EU leaders in the European Council is invited to make a statement in front of the MEPs and take part in a plenary debate with them. Then MEPs proceed with a secret vote.

To secure Parliament’s approval, the candidate needs to receive the support of at least half of all MEPs plus one. If the candidate does not secure the required majority, the European Council needs to propose another candidate.

Once elected, the President of the European Commission selects Commissioners-designate based on nominations from each EU country and assigns different policy portfolios to them. There is one commissioner from each EU country.

The European Parliament invites Commissioners-designate to public hearings to establish if they are suitable for the posts they are seeking to secure. Before each hearing, Parliament’s legal affairs committee examines the candidate’s declaration of interests.

The hearings are organised by the respective parliamentary committees and are streamed live. Candidates reply to written questions ahead of the meeting, make a short introduction at the start of the hearing and after that, answer oral questions from MEPs.

After the meeting, the chairs of the committees concerned and political group representatives meet to evaluate the performance of candidates. If they are not fully satisfied with a candidate, they may decide to ask more written questions seeking further answers or invite the candidate to another hearing. Then they prepare an evaluation letter that is submitted to the committee chairs and then to the President of the Parliament and the political group leaders.

Candidates who do not secure a positive evaluation from committees may withdraw and be replaced by others, selected again by the Commission President on a proposal by the EU countries involved. The new candidates also go through a hearing in Parliament.

The Parliament President and the group leaders analyse the process and the evaluation letters and on recommendation of the committee chairs may decide to close the hearing process.

Following the conclusion of the hearings, Parliament holds a plenary debate where the Commission President presents the full team of commissioners and its political priorities.

The President-elect of the Commission presents the whole team of Commissioners-designate and their programme at a sitting of Parliament. The presentation is followed by a debate.

Parliament votes on whether to give its consent to the appointment - as a body - of the President-elect and Commissioners-designate. The decision is taken by a majority of the votes cast.

MEPs’ contact details are available on Parliament’s MEPs pages. Search for individual MEPs by name or by country, political group or committee. MEPs’ pages contain their email addresses and their social media profiles.

The European Parliament is committed to working in full transparency.

All plenary sessions and most committee meetings are streamed live, while recordings of past meetings are available on Parliament’s Multimedia Centre.

The plenary webpage provides information on plenary agendas, adopted texts, minutes and results of electronic votes. The committees webpage offers access to meeting documents and files related to the work of committees.

Parliament also aims to keep Europeans informed about its work and communicates through different channels, including its liaison offices, website and social media.

Parliament has liaison offices in all EU capitals and regional offices in the largest EU countries. An expanding number of Europa Experience visitor centres across the EU aim to offer direct insight into how the EU makes a difference in people’s lives.

The News section of the website contains press releases and other materials for media, while the Topics section aims to explain Parliament’s work on concrete files and broader issues.

Parliament has social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok and other platforms.

You can also follow the work of individual MEPs - see above how to get in contact with them.