Strasbourg - The new line-up of the 751-member European Parliament will hold its maiden session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, including the eight Slovenian MEPs who were elected in the 25 May elections.
The Slovenian team features four newcomers, three second-time members and veteran Lojze Peterle, who will begin his third term as MEP.
Patricija Šulin, Romana Tomc (both of the Democrats/SDS), Igor Šoltes (Believe) and Franc Bogovič of the People's Party (SLS) will begin their first terms at Tuesday's session, which will elect the new leadership of the European Parliament.
Apart from Peterle, who has been an MEP since the first European elections in Slovenia in 2004, the re-elected Slovenian MEPs who will join the session are Milan Zver of the Democrats (SDS), Ivo Vajgl of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and Tanja Fajon of the Social Democrats (SD).
Fajon has just recently been elected one of the nine vice-presidents of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) political grouping in the European Parliament.
The session is expected to elect the new president of the European Parliament and members of the parliamentary committees. Incumbent President Martin Schulz is expected to remain at the helm of the European Parliament in the first half of the new five-year term.
This is in line with an agreement reached last week between the two biggest political groupings in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (SPP) and the S&D. An EPP candidate is expected to take over in January 2017.
The 25 May European elections in Slovenia saw a modest turnout of 24%, the lowest in any election since Slovenia's independence, with the conservative opposition sweeping the vote, picking up five of Slovenia's eight seats in the European Parliament.
Source: The Slovenia Times
