EUobserver takes a deep dive into the workings and new chairs of every single European Parliament committee for the new 2024-2029 session, in a series of articles first published in our print magazine of October 2024
Working with the US to curb Russia's war in Ukraine and an enlargement "renaissance" will dominate the foreign affairs committee (AFET) — amid tension on whether Europe should become a "hard power".
"The United States continues to be our most important strategic partner," said committee chair David McAllister.
"In times of geopolitical tensions, the European Union must continuously work to underline our commitment to multilateralism and promote a rules-based international order," the German conservative MEP added.
"This applies in particular to issues such as strategic dependencies on non-democratic regimes, economic coercion, political interference, and disinformation," he said.
The AFET committee has no legal power to make EU foreign policy, such as imposing sanctions, which is a prerogative of member states meeting in the EU Council.
But it’s still one of the European Parliament's most powerful, prestigious, and highly-lobbied committees, with 79 members.
Its non-binding resolutions echo in European capitals and overseas, creating political pressure for EU action, for instance, on human-rights abuses.
Its hearings with foreign VIPs, overseas trips, and its role in organising MEPs’ election-observation missions multiply its informal role in EU diplomacy.
It also helps to sign off the EU’s annual €386m foreign and security policy budget and the European Commission’s international agreements.
Its 53-year-old chairman, who was born in Berlin, already held the post for the 2019-2024 term, during which Russia fully invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Moscow became increasingly aggressive toward the EU and Nato.
Spiralling new warfare in the Middle East, which erupted in 2023, also threatened European security, but McAllister was more seized by the Ukraine war.
“With regard to Russia’s ongoing war of aggression, the EU should mobilise international support for the peace formula presented by Ukraine,” he said.
McAllister pledged to “work closely” with the new EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, an Estonian politician, who is also focused on Russia.
His stress on US importance came amid uncertainty on the future of transatlantic relations, if the Putin-friendly and EU-hostile Donald Trump won elections in November.
But despite the overheating global climate, McAllister still predicted that EU plans to forge a joint military force independent of the US would be one of the most divisive topics on AFET’s agenda.
"The EU has to be more than a 'soft power'. We must be able to defend our values with hard power. A genuine military and defence union that is interoperable with Nato and that can act independently is the way forward," he said.
Even though the EU was living in dangerous times, McAllister saw opportunities to press for ever closer ties with former Russia-aligned neighbours.
The EU opened accession talks with Moldova and Ukraine in June, he noted. It also opened talks with Bosnia in March, in the Western Balkans queue.
"EU enlargement is experiencing a renaissance. A new chapter of enlargement policy has begun in the shadow of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine," he said.
But the German MEP warned that EU states ought to do away with national vetoes on foreign action in favour of qualified majority voting, if they were to become a harder force in the geopolitical arena.
"The European Parliament and the foreign affairs committee, in particular, have long underlined their commitment to qualified majority voting in more policy areas. We should strive to achieve meaningful progress on this issue," he concluded.
The AFET coordinators are: Michael Gahler (EPP, Germany), Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, Spain), Sebastiaan Stöteler (PfE, the Netherlands), Adam Bielan (ECR, Poland), Hilde Vautmans (Renew, Belgium), Hannah Newman (Greens, Germany), Marc Botenga (The Left, Belgium), and Stanislav Stoyanov (ESN, Bulgaria).
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.
Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.