Brussels, 20/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - War has been declared in the ALDE Party between the supporters of ALDE Group leader Guy Verhosftadt (Belgium) and the supporters of current Commissioner for the Euro Olli Rehn (Finland). During a congress in London at the beginning of December, both men expressed their interest in running the race for the presidency of the European Commission and for the leadership of their party. The decision between the two is due to be made at another congress in Brussels on 1 February.
French centrists have been amongst the first into the fray, with Marielle de Sarnez MEP (France) stating in Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir that Rehn “is not compatible with the values of the democrat party and with what we support as the European project, the model of society that we support. For us, he would not be a natural or legitimate candidate (…). We need political leadership at the presidency of the Commission, someone with a strong personality, who brings vision and who can bring together the different views - someone who is not a follower in relation to the member states. It seems to me that Guy Verhofstadt is therefore a very good candidate.”
While the Benelux countries support Verhofstadt, Rehn can count on the support of the countries of northern Europe and even the British Liberal Democrats - as Liberal UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated in the middle of the week. Fourteen ALDE leaders have come down in favour of Rehn - a candidate associated with the eurozone crisis and the response that has been given to it via the troika. Rehn supporters thus come from Germany (FDP), Denmark, Estonia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and of course Finland.
The support for Rehn could turn out to be more qualified, however, as the British LibDem delegation at the European Parliament have disavowed Nick Clegg and distanced themselves from his unconditional support for Rehn.
On Thursday 19 December, the members of the ALDE Group were due to tackle the issue before the European summit. Applications for the Commission top job are officially due to be closed on Friday 20 December. (SP/transl.fl)