In Strasbourg on Wednesday 18 January, the day after his EPP group rival Antonio Tajani was elected to the Presidency of the European Parliament (see EUROPE 11705), the leader of the S&D group, Gianni Pittella of Italy, pledged that his group would not systematically oppose or block decisions made by the Assembly (see other articles).
Pittella reiterated that the 'grand coalition', entered into in 2014 by the EPP, S&D and ALDE groups, was dead and buried. Having said that, the Social...