UIP 70th Annual Report 2019

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” Plato

The start of a new era: The European agenda of 2019 was dominated by the election of the new European Parliament, the appointment of the new European Commission and the consequences for the political landscape. While for this 9th legislature, roughly half of the members of European Parliament are new, the significant rise of the nationalists, populists and eurosceptics in most Member States was fortunately not reflected in an increase of their weight at European level. Unfortunately, in the absence of a stable majority, it remains to be seen what kind of dynamic will define parliamentary activities over the next five years.