The European Parliament is younger, more diverse — and more divided — than ever.

It has also increasingly been flexing its muscles in EU decision-making, and many MEPs are expected to play a major role on issues such as climate change, artificial intelligence and industrial policy.

With the Parliament in Strasbourg this week to start this year's legislative work, here are 20 lawmakers (many of them fresh faces in the assembly) who could make a big name for themselves.

Pascal Canfin

Who? An ex-minister and former longtime member of the Greens, Canfin is an ally of French President Emmanuel Macron and was second on his La République En Marche list in May's EU election. Canfin was an adviser for American think tank World Resources Institute during the COP21 climate talks before heading the French branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

Why do they matter? One of the new European Commission’s priorities is the Green Deal and Canfin, a climate expert and one of the (few) influential Frenchmen in the Parliament, has already positioned himself as a leading voice pushing for an ambitious package. As chair of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee, he will steer the work on many important laws, especially a new climate law that is due to be presented by March. He will be a key figure in negotiations on the Green Deal on behalf of his Renew Europe group.

What challenges will they face? He will have to seek cohesion between those who want more ambition on climate, those who are climate skeptics, those who defend businesses and many more besides.

Petra De Sutter

Who? A former gynecologist and Belgian senator, De Sutter is the first Green MEP to chair the powerful Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee, which had been in the hands of the conservative European Conservatives and Reformists group. De Sutter was also the first transgender lawmaker in Belgium.

Why? De Sutter will steer the work of one of the most eclectic committees, which will deal with big files such as public procurement, dual quality food and multiple digital issues.

What? She will be instrumental in coordinating the work between two of the Commission's big guns — Thierry Breton, the internal market commissioner, and Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice president in charge of the digital portfolio.

Irene Tinagli

Who? An Italian socialist who joined the Parliament this term, after five years as a lawmaker in Rome. She became chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee when fellow Democratic Party member Roberto Gualtieri, who had been elected to the role, headed back to Italy as finance minister.

Why? Tinagli is not only heading the committee that will handle high-profile bills on sustainable finance, banking and markets, she’s also pushing for the Parliament to get a big upgrade in its authority: power to vote on tax legislation.



What? National governments won’t be quick to hand over their exclusive control of tax bills. But some capitals are facing public pressure to act on climate change, including through fiscal tools. Tinagli could leverage this to make the Parliament a force on those topics.

Manon Aubry

Who? The co-leader of the far-left GUE party could be a key figure in the fight against tax evasion and inequality. A former spokesperson for a French NGO dealing with tax evasion, she campaigned for “No” in the 2005 referendum on the EU’s constitution. Aubry was head of the list for Jean-Luc Mélenchon's France Unbowed movement in the EU election.

Why? She won't play a role in crucial committees but already made a name for herself during the commissioners' confirmation hearings, denouncing the Parliament's lack of control and transparency during the process. She was sanctioned by the Parliament for calling on the Extinction Rebellion protest movement to occupy the assembly.

What? She aims to raise awareness in the EU on lack of transparency and social injustice.

Esther de Lange

Who? A Dutch member of the EPP and vice chair of the EPP group, she is one of the influential women inside the largest group in the assembly.

Why? She was involved in drafting the EPP position on the Green Deal and is a member of the ENVI committee. She provided the “man on the moon moment” line used by Ursula von der Leyen when the Commission president presented her Green Deal in Parliament.

What? Given the EPP’s often ambiguous position on climate, de Lange will be instrumental in making the party more modern and ambitious on the issue.

Dacian Cioloș

Who? Once nicknamed the “Romanian Macron,” the former prime minister of Romania and ex-commissioner leads Macron’s baby in the Parliament: the centrist Renew Europe group.

Why? He leads a group that will be instrumental in reaching broad coalitions in the Parliament, including on big EU files such as climate and digital issues. He will have to maintain cohesion in a group where many parties have different notions of liberal policies and have little to do with each other.

What? His strength is also his challenge. He heads a group that is overwhelmingly identified with Macron. And believe it or not, not everybody loves Macron in the chamber.

Johan Van Overtveldt

Who? A member of the European Conservatives and Reformists group, the former Belgian finance minister is now chair of the Budgets Committee.

Why? He will be tasked with trying to keep political groups within the European Parliament united on key questions regarding the 2021-2027 EU budget.

What? The Parliament may have a formal position on the next long-term budget, but under the surface MEPs are deeply divided along geographic lines. In a process that is heavily Council-driven, keeping Parliament united enough to influence the budget talks will be a difficult task.

Ville Niinistö

Who? The Finnish Green, Finland’s environment minister from 2011 to 2014 and nephew of Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, is coordinator for his party in the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee.

Why? Niinistö will oversee the group’s work on some important files including the industrial strategy and circular economy action plan, both due in March.

What? His group will seek to paint Commission initiatives in darker shades of green. But the Greens' status as outsiders — they didn’t vote in favor of the von der Leyen Commission but said they’ll offer support on a case-by-case basis — may be a double-edged sword, as the Commission may seek a majority with other, less environmentally minded groups.

Esteban González Pons

Who? A former senator from Spain’s conservative Popular Party (PP), González Pons neither sits in any major committees nor is expected to oversee any of the most important EU files. But he is eloquent, and a rare example of an MEP who has attracted a lot of public attention, including on YouTube, for his strong speeches about the EU in plenary.

Why? As vice chair of the EPP group, he is seen as an influential politician who could well replace Manfred Weber, the current leader of the group, if Weber goes back to national politics.

What? This prominent Spanish MEP could come in handy for Ursula von der Leyen if she needs someone to make a strong case in plenary.

Daniel Caspary

Who? The head of Germany’s conservative delegation in the European Parliament and a member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.

Why? Berlin worries that, with Ursula von der Leyen as president of the Commission, she will be under pressure to make sure the EU isn't seen as too German. That puts more pressure on Caspary, who has to make sure German interests are promoted in Brussels.

What? A lot will depend on Berlin itself. Germany finds itself with a fragile government and therefore chancellor. That political instability could influence German positions at the EU level.

Daniel Freund

Who? Now a Green MEP from Germany, Freund was the head of advocacy for EU integrity at the NGO Transparency International, and transparency is his area of expertise.

Why? He is one of the main rapporteurs on the Conference on the Future of Europe and has pushed for the idea of an independent ethics body. Von der Leyen tasked Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vĕra Jourová with looking into the idea in order to make EU ethics enforcement consistent across the main institutions.

What? He will be on the frontline of potential treaty change through the Conference on the Future of Europe. He’s taken over the work from Sven Giegold on lobby transparency in the German Green delegation.

Samira Rafaela

Who? A Dutch politician from Renew Europe, and the first Dutch MEP with Afro-Caribbean roots.

Why? Rafaela symbolizes a new trade direction within the European Parliament. Putting human and environmental rights in trade agreements is not just an issue of the left anymore but gets backing from liberals. “You can’t solve it all but you can do good things with trade,” she says.

What? Liberals might face pressure from the ECR for letting the trade part of trade talks get out of sight. The ECR say free-trade agreements should be focused more on trade rather than the "extra" elements such as human rights or climate issues.

Katalin Cseh

Who? The 31-year-old Hungarian gynecologist is vice chair of the Renew Europe group.

Why? Cseh is among the new, young cohort of elected officials trying to change political culture both in her native Hungary and within the European Parliament. She uses her position as an MEP to denounce Viktor Orbán and reach out to young people across Central Europe.

What? Like other young MEPs, Cseh’s idealism is being put to the test in an institution that is built on political deals and give-and-take between groups. It will be a struggle to keep promises to Hungarian liberal voters while navigating the politics of the diverse Renew Europe group.

Alex Agius Saliba

Who? A newly elected Maltese MEP from the Socialists and Democrats group. He sits in the Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee.

Why? Agius Saliba has been put in charge of his committee’s report on the Digital Services Act — a future piece of legislation expected from the new European Commission that will set rules on how platforms such as Google and Facebook police illegal content online.

What? Saliba will work on what is already one of the mandate’s most high-profile technology files while navigating a new environment. The Maltese MEP will have to deal with an intense amount of lobbying from the private sector, which has already started. His report will set the tone on an issue that is already described as more controversial than the copyright reform.

Martin Hojsík

Who? Newly elected Slovak MEP in the Renew Europe group, who sits on the environment committee.

Why? Hojsík has established himself early on as a major opponent of the over-use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, helping to halt Commission legislation in a bid to achieve stronger rules for bee-harming pesticides and objecting to the automatic extension of some pesticides’ EU licenses.

What? The Slovak MEP has a fight on his hands to secure ambitious targets for reducing the risk and use of pesticides in the Green Deal. No numbers were included in the outline of the deal published last year. He also demanded tougher rules on the substitution of dangerous chemicals, but with many toxic substances still being marketed across the EU, that will be an uphill battle.

Herbert Dorfmann

Who? An Italian agronomist by training, Dorfmann hails from Italy’s mostly German-speaking borderlands. He’s been an MEP for the South Tyrolean People's Party since 2009, sometimes attends Austrian delegation meetings, and is seen as a bridge-builder between the German caucus and other EPP groups.

Why? He’s the EPP’s coordinator/spokesman on the Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) Committee and, along with Norbert Lins, tasked by his party with helping steer the CAP reform package through parliament. A wily operator, Dorfmann is also cautious and a good communicator. He authored a CAP reform report that prefigured the Commission’s proposal in 2018. He will be influential in deciding EPP positions ahead of negotiations to come.

What? First, he’ll have to help the EPP reach a compromise with the environment committee — which largely regards the agriculture committee as a farming lobby hold-out. Any failure there would cast doubt on the likelihood of the package getting through the Parliament. Assuming it does, the hard work would begin in earnest with EU countries — which have already gutted some of the Commission’s original green commitments – likely to demand a restoration of the status quo on the CAP budget as the price for tacking back to the Commission’s original proposal. Any moves to go further than this via the Farm to Fork strategy or the European Green Deal could strain even his bridge-building capacities.

Tiemo Wölken

Who? Wölken, a German Socialist, is a YouTube celebrity by Brussels standards and a lawyer by training. The 34-year-old cites sustainability and digitalization as his top priorities, and he’s the S&D’s coordinator on the Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee.

Why? He’s the lead rapporteur in the ENVI Committee on health technology assessment (HTA) — a complicated term for judging how well new medicines work. As S&D’s Germanophone health spokesman, Wölken is likely to be a key player in upcoming debates about drug prices, medical device safety and e-health.

What? The previous Parliament backed a Commission plan to force capitals to work together at an early stage of the HTA process. But Berlin is leading opposition to the plan in the Council, saying the proposal comes too close to national control over drug prices. Along with Peter Liese, another influential German on health issues who backs the Parliament's plan, it’ll be up to Wölken to help broker a compromise with his countrymen.

Carles Puigdemont

Who? A longtime persona non grata in the Parliament, the former pro-independence Catalan leader is now officially an MEP but could see his immunity lifted if fellow lawmakers decide to take action. Spain would much rather Puigdemont return to face trial on charges of sedition after he led a failed Catalan independence referendum in 2017.

Why? The Puigdemont saga is likely to be a regular feature of EU news in 2020.

What? The most famous Catalan MEP is expected to import his pro-independence fight to the Parliament and defend the rights of his fellow Catalans.

Nico Semsrott

Who? The hoodie-wearer, German satirist and member of Die Partei is on course to revolutionize the image of the old, traditional, EPP-style MEP. At a recent plenary session, Semsrott stood up wearing a hoodie and a giant pair of sunglasses plastered with the logos of firms such as Accenture and McKinsey, which are at the center of an investigation into allegations of misspending and mismanagement at the German defense ministry when it was led by Ursula von der Leyen.

Why? According to his online biography, Semsrott has learned “through poetry slams, solo performances and YouTube videos how to make people enthusiastic for depressing topics.” He also has “more than 15” hoodies. “So far, the EU's brand of unintentional satire has failed to interest the public,” the bio reads. “Nico is now giving it a try with intentional satire.”

What? MEPs have long had an image as distant, sometimes disgraced, politicians. Semsrott might not be the one overseeing the most important EU files, but he can contribute to making MEPs and the Parliament more fun, modern and visible.

Laura Huhtasaari

Who? A former elementary school teacher, she ran in Finland’s presidential election in 2018 and finished third with 6 percent of the votes.

Why? Huhtasaari is the vice president of one of the most powerful populist parties in Europe — The Finns Party. She is a promoter of Finland’s exit from the EU and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump.

What? She is a member of Identity and Democracy, a political group that has lost two of its most charismatic leaders in recent years: Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen. Can a young outspoken woman like Huhtasaari fill the void?

Lili Bayer, Laura Kayali, Barbara Moens, Arthur Neslen, Cristina Gonzalez, John Rega, Paola Tamma, Sarah Wheaton, Eddy Wax, Eline Schaart and Hans von der Burchard contributed to this article.

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