Strasbourg, 10/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 October, the Social Democrats at the European Parliament gave their backing to the candidacy of Martin Schulz of Germany to head the social democratic list in the European elections of May 2014, meaning that in the event of victory, Schulz, who is currently president of the European Parliament, could become the president of the European Commission.
Hannes Swoboda, head of the S&D group at the Parliament, said: “In his role as the president of the European Parliament he has shown on a daily basis that he is a strong and globally recognised leader able to speak for the 500 million Europeans.”
On Tuesday evening, the socialist party in France announced that it was backing Schulz as the PES' candidate to become the next president of the European Commission. Quizzed about this on Wednesday, Schulz said he was also being backed by the Portuguese social democrats, simply commenting that this was a good thing, and pointing out the timeline. Applicants have until the end of October to come forward and a congress of the S&P at the end of February 2014 would formally decide which man or woman would be the party's candidate. The names of the applicants would be published on 6 November.
The European People's Party (EPP) will decide on a candidate after its congress in Dublin on 6 and 7 March 2014. José Manuel Barroso of Portugal has not yet said that he will not stand again, although his standing for a third term is not thought likely. Other names doing the rounds include the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, and two current European Commissioners, Viviane Reding of Luxembourg and Michel Barnier of France. (EL/transl.fl)