Brussels, 12/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 12 June, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, held consultations with the five largest political groups at the European Parliament in preparation for the European summit on 26 and 27 June that may decide who is to be the next president of the European Commission and what the next Commission's work programme is to be. Van Rompuy ended his round of talks with a meeting with the Greens/EFA on Thursday afternoon.
The aim of the consultations was to test support for the EPP's Jean-Claude Juncker to become the next president of the European Commission, and to hear the demands of each party for the Commission's programme of work. Van Rompuy will now consult with the member states, which are due to decide on the new president at the summit at the end of June according to the official timetable.
As expected, the EPP, S&D and ALDE all told Van Rompuy that they back Jean-Claude Juncker, the candidate of the party that won the greatest number of MEPs in the 25 May elections. The new head of the EPP Manfred Weber, told reporters after his meeting with Van Rompuy that the EPP unconditionally backs Juncker and wants the European Council to recommend him on 26 June. Weber brushed aside rumours of the party being split, saying that he hoped all the talks would go in the same direction and the majority of member states back Juncker. He said the EPP does not want to waste any time and wants the vote on the new president to take place in mid-July in Strasbourg as planned.
Talking about the countries that are “undecided”, like the United Kingdom (which is clearly the country most opposed to Juncker's appointment), Weber said he had positive feelings about the outcome of the talks. He said a significant majority for Juncker was building up among the member states, and too bad for the United Kingdom. He said Parliament wanted to build bridges with the United Kingdom and have cooperation, but at the same time, the United Kingdom is only one of 28 member states and it is not possible for it to impose a veto. London cannot dictate to the EU, he said. Weber talked of the danger of in institutional crisis if the European summit decided to play tough and refuse to allow Juncker to become the new president.
The Socialists and Democrats also back Juncker and issue the same warning to the member states. In a press release, Hannes Swoboda (who will hand over the presidency of the S&D Group on 17 June to the S&D's candidate for the Commission presidency, Martin Schulz) said it was a matter of respecting democracy and the choice made by voters. Juncker's EPP had won the highest number of votes and was therefore in a position to claim leadership of the Commission. Swoboda pointed out that the S&D had come second. He urged the European summit to be constructive and play by the rules. He said that it was a basic democratic principle that the European Commission must respect the balance at the European Parliament, adding that Schulz has also won wide support. The chances of Schulz getting a job at the Commission, or possibly an important one like digital economy commissioner or foreign affairs, have been jeopardised by opposition from Angela Merkel. Some observers at the European Parliament say that, although there is not an official Juncker/Schulz ticket, Schulz will have to be given something, possibly being made the president of the European Parliament again.
The job of president of the EP is also coveted by Guy Verhofstadt of the ALDE, where people are not happy about not having an opportunity to meet Juncker since the elections. A source said the ALDE had asked to meet with him but a meeting never materialises. The source said that Juncker, who used to be the head of the Eurogroup, was closer today to becoming president of the Commission, which would make it finally possible for him to start his campaign with the other parties at the EP. (SP)