Following weeks of speculation and rumours, the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, made an official announcement in Brussels on Thursday 24 November that he would not stand for a third consecutive term.
In a declaration read out in three languages, in which he referred to a difficult decision, the German Social Democrat stepped down from his position and will be replaced in January of next year. He now plans to stand for a seat in the Bundestag at the head of the Social Democrat list in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the German elections of September 2017.
This decision could have been predicted: Schulz's fate was tied into an agreement, signed in 2014 at the start of the legislative period, between the EPP and S&D groups, reserving the Presidency in the second half of Parliament's term for the Christian Democrat group. It did, however, come as a surprise to the other political groups. It also officially launched the battle for the position and may even have triggered a new round of musical chairs for the top European jobs.
The S&D group is staunchly opposed to the Christian Democrats holding the top jobs at the EP, the Council and the European Commission all at the same time. "Our position is clear (…). It is absolutely impossible that the Presidents of the Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament are all representatives of the EPP", said the Italian Secretary of State for European Affairs, Sandro Gozi, quoted by ANSA. He went on to say that Schulz's departure clearly brings the question of the Presidency of the European Council to the fore, with Donald Tusk's term in office set to end at the end of May 2017.
According to an EPP party source, ensuring political stability involves respecting the agreement between the S&D and the EPP. The European Council only needs to find one person from the S&D, the source added.
The leader of the EPP group in Parliament, Germany's Manfred Weber, will start to hold talks with the other group leaders on candidates who may be able to rally a majority of votes in Parliament, at least on its pro-European fringes. In the EPP group, Alain Lamassoure of France and Mairad McGuinness of Ireland have officially thrown their hats into the ring. A primary between the two candidates will be held on 13 December, unless one of them moves into the lead before then, the EPP group source said.
Weber himself has not confirmed his intentions, but the source went on to say that he would not stand, as he has just been re-elected to the leadership of his group.
In any case, Schulz's announcement brought everybody off guard, another representatitve from the ALDE group said. The source added that the decision may open the field to Guy Verhofstadt, the current head of the ALDE group in Parliament and negotiator-in-chief on Brexit. According to this observer, Weber is more open to the Liberals and referred to them as allies several times at a press conference on Thursday morning. As the Socialists have no candidate to replace Schulz and will not necessarily retain the Presidency, Verhofstadt will have an extra trump card, as neither Lamassoure nor McGuiness have garnered a lot of enthusiasm for their candidacies.
The fact remains, in this situation, that the Belgian would not wear the President's hat and the Brexit negotiator-in-chief hat at the same time. The latter mission could then be included in the negotiations with the other political groups in Parliament.
Juncker and Tusk plan to stay in position
Over at the Commission and the European Council, Presidents Juncker and Tusk reaffirmed their intention of staying in their respective jobs. On a humorous note, they both explained, after the EU/Ukraine summit (see other articles) that they are both in great physical shape. We run marathons, mainly from office to office, Juncker joked.
Both men paid tribute to Schulz's qualities and the work he has accomplished at the head of Parliament. I greatly regret his decision, Juncker said in the morning. The German weekly magazine "Der Spiegel" suggested that Juncker had linked his fate in with that of the outgoing President.
For the ECR group, Schulz's departure should be seen as an opportunity to rethink the functioning of the EP and to ask questions about the benefits of the 'grand coalition' led by the EPP and S&D groups. Belgium's Helga Stevens, the Eurosceptic group's candidate for the Presidency, said that personal relations with Schulz had always been positive. "However, nobody can deny that he was the master of the backroom stitch-up", she commented. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)