Committees and Intergroups in the European Parliament

Cancer Research UK works with a range of partners, including MEPs who are active in Committees and other cross-party groups.

Committees

In the process of proposing and drafting legislation, as part of the co-decision procedure with the Council of the European Union, Standing Committees produce reports and propose amendments to the draft legislation.

Committees are also able to produce non-legislative reports or “own-initiative reports” on a particular subject.

When drawing up a report, a Committee may ask the opinion of another Committee on the matter, particularly if it is felt that a proposed amendment would fall into the interests of another Committee.

Relevant committees include:

Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee
Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee

Intergroups and other interest groups in the European Parliament

Intergroups are similar to All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) in the UK. They are groups of MEPs from across all political groups and EU member states who share an interest in a particular topic.

There are currently two types of Intergroup:

A formal Intergroup which must follow internal European Parliamentary rules; and
Informal interest groups which have more flexibility in deciding when and where they can meet and how they operate.

There are a number of groups who focus on cancer or research-related issues. They provide Cancer Research UK with an opportunity to present its work and to brief leading EU policy makers on issues related to cancer research and cancer health policy. Such groups include:

Cancer Research UK works with several groups including:

Formal Intergroups: