EU Parliament political groups strike deal on four new committees

The European Parliament's group leaders reached a political agreement on Friday to set up two new special committees on housing and foreign interference, and to upgrade the subcommittees on public health (SANT) and security and defence (SEDE).  

The mandates of the committees - which will review and report on legislative proposals - will now have to be voted on and given the final green light by the whole chamber next Wednesday during a plenary session in Strasbourg, with committee chairs likely to be decided in January, parliamentary sources told Euronews.   

SEDE's expanded mandate hasn’t been without controversy, as tensions have arisen with other committees over its claimed areas of jurisdiction. 

Its new responsibilities include overseeing the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy, monitoring and implementing defence research, innovation and joint production, tackling hybrid threats, boosting Europe's defence industry and cyber-defence, and developing military mobility infrastructure. 

On the other hand, the EPP pushed for the Public Health subcommittee (SANT) to be reinforced to focus on health issues, which it felt were going unnoticed in the larger Environment Committee. However, the idea was resisted by other parties who feared that separating the issues would jeopardise the cross-sectoral nature of public health.  

Under the new deal, SANT would be officially responsible for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and would supervise preparedness and response to health crises, mental health and patients' rights, and health aspects of bioterrorism.   

The SANT stand-alone committee will also be in charge of inter-institutional relations with other health authorities. However, food security and animal welfare will