Brussels, 18/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - As predicted, the European Parliament's Social Democrats elected Martin Schulz as leader of their group on Wednesday 18 June.
Elected by 162 votes out of 170 - he was the only candidate - Schulz (Germany) will replace Hannes Swoboda (Austria) as leader of the S&D Group. This game of musical chairs is of benefit to the first vice-president of the European Parliament, Gianni Pitella (S&D, Italy), who will act as interim president of the European Parliament until 1 July when the new president or presidents of the Parliament should become known. The idea of sharing the five-year presidency is still valid, as Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP Group, stated during a press conference on Thursday 12 June. Schulz officially resigned as president of the Parliament on 18 June, and will now just focus on the negotiations for the main European posts.
Schulz has publicly confirmed that he wants a post in the European Commission. The ambition of being “vice-chancellor” of the Commission alongside Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg) is one that is often attributed to him. “Juncker wants me at the Commission”, he said, even if, according to the Luxembourgish team, the discussions are only focused on the name of the future president of the Commission and not on a ticket with Schulz. “Juncker is not against, but it's not in his gift” to impose this, it was said last week. One of the main obstacles to Schulz remains Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and some see Schulz returning to the presidency of the European Parliament.
The new head of the S&D Group - a group which he led between 2009 and 2012 - stated at the end of the vote that “this election [gave him] the full support of the S&D MEPs to conduct the negotiations effectively for the appointment of the future European Commission president and his political programme - as well as the future structure in the European Parliament”.
Schulz called on the leaders “not to delay a process in which the people of Europe have stated what they want”. In his view, “Jean-Claude Juncker should receive a mandate to establish a majority at the European Parliament, with a clear commitment from all the democratic groups”. However, this support will only be given if Juncker “is ready to tackle the big challenges of the EU - putting an end to austerity, fighting against mass unemployment - especially among young people, limiting the increase in poverty and social exclusion, fight against tax fraud and making Europe competitive through increased investment, the modernisation of infrastructure and a more flexible interpretation of the Stability and Growth Pact”. (MB)