European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs

The Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) is a standing committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for the political coordination and parliamentary oversight of the European Union's external action, including the Common Foreign and Security Policy, relations with non-EU countries and international organisations, enlargement, international agreements, democracy and human rights, and scrutiny of the European External Action Service.

AFET has 79 full members during the tenth parliamentary term and is assisted by the Subcommittee on Human Rights. The Committee on Security and Defence was formerly an AFET subcommittee but became a separate standing committee in January 2025.

Responsibilities

AFET promotes, shapes and monitors the implementation of the European Union's foreign policy. Its responsibilities include the political aspects of relations with non-EU countries and international organisations, the Union's enlargement and neighbourhood policies, international agreements, democracy support and human rights, and oversight of the European External Action Service.

Its remit includes:

the Common Foreign and Security Policy, except for matters assigned specifically to the Committee on Security and Defence; relations with non-EU countries and international organisations; the political aspects of international agreements; accession negotiations and the European Neighbourhood Policy; democratic governance, the rule of law, human rights and minority rights outside the European Union; coordination of parliamentary delegations and joint parliamentary committees; scrutiny of the European External Action Service and EU special representatives; and the foreign-policy aspects of the Union's budget.

The committee adopts reports and recommendations, holds exchanges of views with foreign ministers, diplomats and international organisations, and examines candidates for senior external-action posts. Parliament's consent is required for many international agreements and for the accession of new member states.

Foreign-policy scrutiny

AFET scrutinises the work of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European External Action Service and EU special representatives. It adopts an annual report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, examines external-action expenditure and contributes to parliamentary diplomacy with non-EU countries.

Through missions and parliamentary diplomacy, the committee maintains contacts with parliaments, governments and civil-society organisations outside the European Union. It also considers sanctions, conflicts, enlargement, election observation and the implementation of international agreements.

Relationship with other committees

AFET is assisted by the Subcommittee on Human Rights, which deals with democracy, human rights and minority protection outside the European Union.

The Committee on Security and Defence was established as an AFET subcommittee in 2004. Parliament decided on 18 December 2024 to convert it into a separate standing committee from January 2025. It is therefore no longer a subcommittee of AFET. The two committees nevertheless work on closely connected areas: AFET retains responsibility for the overall political coordination of the Union's external action and the Common Foreign and Security Policy, while SEDE deals specifically with security and defence policy, defence cooperation, military and civilian missions and related capabilities.

Chairs

The following table lists the chairs of the committee since 1999.

Name Political group Member state Took office Left office Elmar Brok EPP–ED Germany 1999 2007 Jacek Saryusz-Wolski EPP–ED Poland 2007 2009 Gabriele Albertini EPP Italy 2009 2012 Elmar Brok EPP Germany 2012 2017 David McAllister EPP Germany 2017 Incumbent

Members

10th Parliament, 2024–2029

The committee currently has 79 full members. Its current composition is shown below, with the chair and vice-chairs indicated in italics.

European People's Party Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats European Conservatives and Reformists Renew Europe David McAllister, Germany, Chair Ioan-Rareș Bogdan, Romania, Vice-Chair Mika Aaltola, Finland Wouter Beke, Belgium Sebastião Bugalho, Portugal Loukas Fourlas, Cyprus Michael Gahler, Germany Christophe Gomart, France Rasa Juknevičienė, Lithuania Sandra Kalniete, Latvia Łukasz Kohut, Poland Ondřej Kolář, Czechia Andrey Kovatchev, Bulgaria Reinhold Lopatka, Austria Antonio López-Istúriz White, Spain Vangelis Meimarakis, Greece Francisco José Millán Mon, Spain Davor Ivo Stier, Croatia Michał Szczerba, Poland Riho Terras, Estonia Željana Zovko, Croatia Hana Jalloul Muro, Spain, Vice-Chair Lucia Annunziata, Italy Robert Biedroń, Poland Tobias Cremer, Germany Elio Di Rupo, Belgium Claudiu Manda, Romania Costas Mavrides, Cyprus Sven Mikser, Estonia Tonino Picula, Croatia Thijs Reuten, Netherlands Chloé Ridel, France Nacho Sánchez Amor, Spain Andreas Schieder, Austria Marta Temido, Portugal Nicola Zingaretti, Italy Alberico Gambino, Italy, Vice-Chair Adam Bielan, Poland Geadis Geadi, Cyprus Rihards Kols, Latvia Jaak Madison, Estonia Marion Maréchal, France Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Poland Cristian Terheș, Romania Sebastian Tynkkynen, Finland Urmas Paet, Estonia, Vice-Chair Petras Auštrevičius, Lithuania Dan Barna, Romania Helmut Brandstätter, Austria Bernard Guetta, France Nathalie Loiseau, France Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Germany Hilde Vautmans, Belgium Patriots for Europe Greens–European Free Alliance The Left Europe of Sovereign Nations Mieke Andriese, Netherlands Jordan Bardella, France Jaroslav Bžoch, Czechia Kinga Gál, Hungary Silvia Sardone, Italy António Tânger Corrêa, Portugal Hermann Tertsch, Spain Pierre-Romain Thionnet, France Harald Vilimsky, Austria Sergey Lagodinsky, Germany Hannah Neumann, Germany Leoluca Orlando, Italy Nela Riehl, Germany Mounir Satouri, France Villy Søvndal, Denmark Marc Botenga, Belgium Danilo Della Valle, Italy Özlem Demirel, Germany Giorgos Georgiou, Cyprus Rima Hassan, France Petr Bystron, Germany Alexander Sell, Germany Stanislav Stoyanov, Bulgaria Non-Inscrits Ľuboš Blaha, Slovakia Grzegorz Braun, Poland Kostas Papadakis, Greece

Substitute members

The committee's substitute members are listed below.

European People's Party Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats European Conservatives and Reformists Renew Europe Krzysztof Brejza, Poland Jan Farský, Czechia Andrzej Halicki, Poland Mircea Hava, Romania Manolis Kefalogiannis, Greece Seán Kelly, Ireland Eszter Lakos, Hungary Miriam Lexmann, Slovakia Gabriel Mato, Spain Liudas Mažylis, Lithuania Verena Mertens, Germany Angelika Niebler, Germany Nicolás Pascual de la Parte, Spain Ana Miguel Pedro, Portugal Massimiliano Salini, Italy Sven Simon, Germany Alice Teodorescu Måwe, Sweden Ingeborg ter Laak, Netherlands Matej Tonin, Slovenia Isabel Wiseler-Lima, Luxembourg Milan Zver, Slovenia Francisco Assis, Portugal Laura Ballarín Cereza, Spain Vasile Dîncu, Romania Nikolas Farantouris, Greece Raphaël Glucksmann, France Sandra Gómez López, Spain Giorgio Gori, Italy Evin Incir, Sweden Javi López, Spain Yannis Maniatis, Greece Alessandra Moretti, Italy Matjaž Nemec, Slovenia Marco Tarquinio, Italy Mihai Tudose, Romania Kathleen Van Brempt, Belgium Stephen Nikola Bartulica, Croatia Michał Dworczyk, Poland Carlo Fidanza, Italy Emmanouil Fragkos, Greece Małgorzata Gosiewska, Poland Reinis Pozņaks, Latvia Șerban Dimitrie Sturdza, Romania Claudiu-Richard Târziu, Romania Ivaylo Valchev, Bulgaria Malik Azmani, Netherlands Engin Eroglu, Germany Christophe Grudler, France Michał Kobosko, Poland Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Bulgaria Pina Picierno, Italy Marjan Šarec, Slovenia Lucia Yar, Slovakia Patriots for Europe Greens–European Free Alliance The Left Europe of Sovereign Nations Susanna Ceccardi, Italy Viktória Ferenc, Hungary Vilis Krištopans, Latvia András László, Hungary Afroditi Latinopoulou, Greece Jorge Martín Frías, Spain Georg Mayer, Austria Julie Rechagneux, France Matthieu Valet, France Jaume Asens Llodrà, Spain Ville Niinistö, Finland Vladimir Prebilič, Slovenia Diana Riba i Giner, Spain Tineke Strik, Netherlands Thomas Waitz, Austria Pernando Barrena Arza, Spain Merja Kyllönen, Finland Irene Montero, Spain Ilaria Salis, Italy Jonas Sjöstedt, Sweden Tomasz Froelich, Germany Hans Neuhoff, Germany Petar Volgin, Bulgaria Non-Inscrits Ruth Firmenich, Germany Martin Sonneborn, Germany Michael von der Schulenburg, Germany

Research support

The committee is supported by the European Parliament's research services and the Policy Department for External Relations. These services provide studies, briefings and analyses on foreign policy, enlargement, international security, sanctions, democracy support, human rights and the Union's relations with individual countries and regions.

Research prepared for the committee is published through Parliament's supporting-analyses database and the European Parliament Think Tank.

See also

Common Foreign and Security Policy Common Security and Defence Policy European External Action Service High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Foreign Affairs Council European Union enlargement European Neighbourhood Policy European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights European Parliament Committee on Security and Defence

References

External links

Official website Members Supporting analyses European Parliament Think Tank