Several socialists at the European Parliament and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, want Martin Schulz to remain president of the European Parliament for the second part of his term of office, but the EPP Group is refusing to admit defeat and is expected to organise primaries to designate an EPP candidate for this job on 14 December.
The names of those in the running are already known as France’s Alain Lamassoure, Ireland’s Mairead McGuinness and Slovenia’s Alojz Peterle have been doing the rounds for a number of weeks. At the EPP, they say that this idea of sharing the term of office is covered by a written, signed agreement with the S&D Group.
The S&D’s president, Gianni Pittella, says it is continuing to support Schulz. Pittella said they opposed the idea of the presidents of all three EU institutions coming from the EPP, and political imbalance could not be allowed at the head of big institutions.
A source at the EPP said the S&D could demand the presidency of the Council, because the majority has shifted, but it is unable to agree on an individual. The source said that East European countries want an S&D figurehead from that region, but the EPP should not have to pay for the lack of leadership of the S&D within the Council. In the plausible situation of Schulz returning to Germany, the social democrat family would not put forward other candidates for the presidency of the Parliament, the source said.
Pittella announced that he was a candidate for re-election as head of the S&D, arguing his case in a 13-page document explaining future challenges and urgent matters to be dealt with.
No candidate from the liberal Group.
The ALDE Group finds this S&D/EPP spat rather amusing. A source said they were watching it all but keeping their distance and would see what happened with the primary. If all groups are allowed to propose a candidate to replace Schulz, the ALDE Group will not because it is simply a battle among the two big parties. If other groups, like the Greens/EFA were to present candidates, the source said, it would only be to give a good appearance. The ECR Group announced on Tuesday evening that it had nominated Belgian NVA deputy Helga Stevens as its candidate for European Parliament president.
In theory, the European Parliament presidency in the second half of the term of office goes to the EPP. While Manfred Weber, the head of the EPP Group, seemed at first to want Schulz to remain in the job, he is reported to have changed his mind under pressure from revolt within the EPP. The real battle is at present between Lamassoure and McGuiness. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)