Last week, the European Parliament's committees held their constitutive meetings and elected their Chairs. The Renew Europe Group will preside over four parliamentary committees: Pascal Canfin will chair the committee on environment, public health and food safety (ENVI), Lucy Nethsingha the committee on legal affairs (JURI), Chris Davies the fisheries committee (PECH) and Nathalie Loiseau will be Chair of the subcommittee on security and defence (SEDE).

Pascal Canfin (Renaissance, France), Chair of ENVI, said today:

"The environment committee will have a decisive role to play in the next five years. Our generation is the first to have all the solutions at hand, but also the last to be able to act in order to avoid the worst case scenario. I hope that we know how to come together, wherever we come from, and that we live up to the expectations of the European citizens."

Lucy Nethsingha (LibDem, UK), Chair of JURI, said:

"I am excited and honoured to have been elected chair of the JURI Committee. I am determined the Legal Affairs Committee will play a key role in providing legal certainty and stability for the European Union, while advancing rights for Europe's citizens and addressing the central issues of our time, such as Environmental crime."

Chris Davies (LibDem, UK), Chair of PECH, added:

"Fish pay no respect to national boundaries and they didn’t vote for Brexit. My aim will be to promote sustainable fishing policies in all of Europe’s seas. Building up stocks and giving fishers more fish to catch is the best way of securing a long term future for the industry."

Nathalie Loiseau (Renaissance, France), Chair of SEDE, commented:

"The EU is going through a decisive moment: Europe has never experienced such a long period of peace but the threats it faces have never been so diverse. We must work together to strengthen our common defence and we have to take into account emerging issues, be it the fight against terrorism, cyber defence, space or hybrid threats."