The committees of the European Parliament are designed to examine proposals in detail before the matter is dealt with by the full Parliament. They comprise Standing Committees and occasional Temporary Committees or Committees on Inquiry.
Each committee is composed to reflect the overall political balance of the Parliament as a whole, with seats allocated to each of the political Groups in proportion to their size. Each committee also has substitute members who may vote in place of an absent full member from their political Group.
Standing Committees generally produce reports for consideration by Parliament in its debates. These can be on legislative proposals from the European Commission, or "own initiative reports" on a matter which the committee wishes to take up. Reports are usually drafted by a rapporteur, who is appointed by the committee, selected from amongst its members. The rapporteur's draft is voted on by the committee, typically with amendments being tabled and voted on. The report as adopted by the committee is then presented to the full Parliament for debate and vote.
Chairs and Vice Chairs Each committee elects its own Chair and Vice Chairs. Traditionally, political groups in the Parliament have reached an agreement to share such posts among them (while excluding extremist parties) in proportion to their size (calculated according to the D'Hondt method). Committee members have usually, but not always, followed the recommendations of the political Groups."The Parliamentary Committees" in The European Parliament (10th ed, 2024) Corbett, Jacobs and Neville, John Harper Publishing,
Legislative reports Before drafting legislative proposals, the European Commission will consult the various standing committees before formally submitting its proposal to the Parliament and the Council to initiate the European Union legislative procedure.
At the start of the legislative procedure, Parliament designates one committee as the responsible committee, though other committees may submit their own opinions to it. Occasionally, when the subject matter cuts across the responisibilties of more than one committee, joint committee meetings can be provided for or, exceptionally, an ad hoc committee to deal with a specific legislative proposal.
Reports on legislative proposals normally comprise draft amendments to the legislative proposal and a draft resolution containing a recommendation to accept or reject the proposal. These are voted on by Parliament, along with any amendments tabled by political groups or one-twentieth of the individual members.
The same committee(s) will be responsible in any second or third reading of the proposal, and will also provide the members who represent Parliament in any inter-institutional negotiations with the Council seeking to reconcile the position of the two institutions which jointly constitute the EU legislature.
Non-legislative reports and Own-Initiative Reports Committees are also able to produce non-legislative reports relevant to their competence. The appointed rapporteur is responsible for preparing the report, and presenting it to Parliament on the committee's behalf. These reports must include a motion for a resolution, an explanatory statement, and must also outline financial implications. These can be own-initiative reports requesting the Commission to draft legislative proposals for consideration by the Parliament and the Council. Before drawing up any such report, a committee must obtain the permission of the Conference of Presidents. The Conference of Presidents has two months to make a decision, and any reasons for withholding permission must always be stated.
Cross-committee co-operation When drawing up a report, a committee may ask the opinion of another committee on the matter, particularly if it is felt that a proposed amendment would fall into the interests of another committee. The committee asked for an opinion will be named as such in the final report. The chair and drafter of the secondary committee may be invited to take part in any committee discussions held by the primary committee, where the meeting deals with the matter that the secondary committee is advising on.
Amendments that are proposed by the secondary committee will be voted on by the committee responsible for producing the report.
If the Conference of Presidents decides that a requested report falls equally to two committees, both committees will agree upon a joint timetable, and shall work together in producing the report.
List of standing committees This is a list of standing committees along with the respective chairperson as of February 2026.
+CommitteeMembersChairVice Chairs1st half of term(2024-2027)2nd half of term(2027-2029)1st half of term(2024-2027)2nd half of term(2027-2029)Committee on Foreign Affairs79David McAllisterHana JalloulUrmas PaetAlberico GambinoIoan-Rareș BogdanSubcommittee on Security and Defence30Marie-Agnes Strack-ZimmermannChristophe GomartMihai TudoseAlberico GambinoRiho TerrasSubcommittee on Human Rights30Mounir SatouriMarta TemidoŁukasz KohutVacantVacantCommittee on Development25Barry AndrewsIsabella LövinHildegard BenteleAbir Al-SahlaniRobert BiedrońCommittee on International Trade43Bernd LangeManon AubryIuliu WinklerKarin KarlsbroKathleen Van BremptCommittee on Budgets40Johan Van OvertveldtMonika HohlmeierGiuseppe Lupo Janusz LewandowskiLucia YarCommittee on Budgetary Control30Niclas HerbstCaterina ChinniciCristian TerheșClaudiu MandaVacantCommittee on Economic and Monetary Affairs60Aurore LalucqDamian BoeselagerĽudovít ÓdorLuděk NiedermayerMarlena MalągSubcommittee on Tax Matters30Pasquale TridicoKira Marie Peter-HansenRegina DohertyMarkus FerberMatthias EckeCommittee on Employment and Social Affairs60Li AnderssonJohan DanielssonJagna Marczułajtis-WalczakKatrin LangensiepenVacantCommittee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety90Pierfrancesco MaranEsther Herranz GarcíaPietro FiocchiAnja HazekampAndrás Tivadar Kulja Subcommittee on Public Health30Adam JarubasTilly MetzStine BosseRomana JerkovićEmmanouil FragkosCommittee on Industry, Research and Energy90Borys BudkaTsvetelina PenkovaElena Donazzan Giorgio GoriYvan VerougstraeteCommittee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection52Anna CavazziniChristian DoleschalNikola Minchev Maria Grapini Kamila Gasiuk-PihowiczCommittee on Transport and Tourism46Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi Virginijus Sinkevičius Sophia KircherElena KountouraMatteo RicciCommittee on Regional Development41Dragoș BeneaGabriella GerzsenyiNora MebarekFrancesco VentolaĽubica KarvašováCommittee on Agriculture and Rural Development49Veronika VrecionováDaniel BudaNorbert LinsEric SargiacomoVacantCommittee on Fisheries27Carmen Crespo DíazSander SmitGiuseppe MilazzoStéphanie Yon-CourtinJessica Polfjärd Committee on Culture and Education30Nela RiehlBogdan Andrzej ZdrojewskiEmma RafowiczDiana RibaHristo PetrovCommittee on Legal Affairs25Ilhan KyuchyukMarion WalsmannMario MantovaniLara WoltersEmil RadevCommittee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs75Javier ZarzalejosMarina KaljurandCharlie WeimersAlessandro ZanEstrella GalánCommittee on Constitutional Affairs30Sven SimonGabriele BischoffAdrián Vázquez LázaraCharles GoerensPéter MagyarCommittee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality40Lina GálvezDainius ŽalimasIrene MonteroRosa Estaràs FerragutPredrag Fred MatićCommittee on Petitions35Bogdan RzońcaDolors MontserratFredis Beleris Nils UšakovsCristina GuardaSources:
Special committees Under Rule 213 of its rules of procedure, the Parliament may at any time set up special committees for specific reports for an initial period of no longer than 12 months. Examples of such special committees have been: The Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System (2000–01) The Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners (2006–07) Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis (2009-11) Special committee on the EU authorisation procedure for pesticides (2018) Special committee on foreign interference in the democratic processes of the European Union (2020–23) Special committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union (2025-26)
Committees of Inquiry The European Parliament was granted the right to create temporary committees of inquiry under Article 226 of the 1993 Maastricht Treaty. This in fact recognised an existing practice, as the Parliament had created nine committees of inquiry in the period between the introduction of direct elections in 1979 and the inclusion of this legal basis in the treaty. They were: Year Committee 1983 The Seveso disaster 1984 The rise of fascism and racism. The committee's work led to the 'Joint Declaration against racism and xenophobia'. 1985 The drugs problem 1986 Agricultural stocks 1988 The Transnuklear scandal 1988 Hormones in meat 1991 Racism and Xenophobia (The application of the Joint Declaration against racism and xenophobia) 1991 Trans-frontier crime linked to drug trafficking.
Since then, under Article 226 of the 1993 Maastricht Treaty, the Inquiry Committees since 1995 have been:
EP Year Abbrev Committee of inquiry Chairperson Rapporteur Fourth 1996-1997 TRANSIT Temporary Committee of Inquiry into the Community Transit System John Tomlinson Edward Kellett-Bowman Fourth 1996-1997 ESB I Temporary Committee of Inquiry into BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) Reimer Böge Manuel Medina Ortega Sixth 2006-2007 EQUI Temporary Committee of Inquiry into the Crisis of the Equitable Life Assurance Society Mairead McGuinness Diana Wallis Eighth 2015 EMIS on the measurement of emissions in the automotive sector, established on 17 December 2015, whose work was finalised on 4 April 2017. See Dieselgate. Kathleen Van Brempt Pablo Zalba Bidegain, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy Eighth 2016 PANA on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax fraud, established on 8 June 2016, whose work was finalised on 13 December 2017. See Panama Papers. Werner Langen Jeppe Kofod, Petr Ježek Ninth 2020 ANIT on the Protection of animals during transport, established on 19 June 2020.REPORT on the investigation of alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law in relation to the protection of animals during transport within and outside the Union Tilly Metz Daniel Buda, Isabel Carvalhais Ninth 2022 PEGA On the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware, established on 10 March 2022. See Pegasus Project (investigation). Jeroen Lenaers Sophie in 't Veld
Delegations MEPs also compose delegations to various Parliaments outside of the European Union. Joint parliamentary committees are set up with candidate countries. There are also delegations to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary AssemblyEuro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary AssemblyDelegations and the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly.
Conference of Committee Chairs and Conference of Delegation Chairs Two bodies in the Parliament are the Conference of Committee Chairs (CCC) and the Conference of Delegation Chairs (CDC). The Conference of Committee Chairs is the political body in Parliament that organises cooperation between the committees and consists of the chairs of all the standing and special committees. The Conference of Delegation Chairs is the political body in Parliament that periodically considers all matters concerning the smooth running of interparliamentary delegations and delegations to the joint parliamentary committees. They may make recommendations to the Conference of Presidents and can be instructed to carry out particular tasks by the Bureau or Conference of Presidents.Conference of Committee ChairsConference of Delegation Chairs
References
External links Official Website Lists of MEPs by committee membership Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament