BRUSSELS – The European Parliament today elected Loukas Fourlas (EPP) as chair of the Delegation to Serbia and Karlo Ressler (EPP) as chair of the Delegation to North Macedonia. Chairs of the Delegations for other Western Balkan countries were elected on Monday. In addition, EP also elected chairs to the Delegations to Ukraine and Moldova.
Loukas Fourlas has been serving as an MEP for the Cypriot party Democratic Rally (DISY) since 2019. Before going into politics, he worked as a journalist. Alessandra Moretti (S&D) and Georgios Aftias (EPP) were elected as the first and second vice chair, respectively.
Karlo Ressler has also been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019, as a member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). Previously, he was an advisor for legal and political issues to Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. Biljana Borzan (S&D) and Ivaylo Valchev (ECR) were elected as the first and second vice chair, respectively.
Meanwhile, Siegfried Mureșan from the Romanian National Liberal Party (EPP) was re-elected as the chair of EP’s Delegation to Moldova. Pekka Toveri of the Finnish National Coalition Party (also EPP) was elected as chair of the Delegation to Ukraine.
The Delegations of the European Parliament maintain relations and exchange information with MPs in other countries, regions and organisations. Together with the delegations of the national parliaments, they form joint parliamentary committees, which usually meet twice a year. They are co-chaired by the chairs of the respective delegations.