Dutch national Frans Timmermans will defend the colours of the social democrat family at the European elections in May 2019 and, should they win, could aspire to the presidency of the European Commission.
"In order to further strengthen our unity, Maroš Šefčovič has announced that he supports Frans Timmermans as the Common Candidate to lead the PES family into the 2019 European Parliament elections. This brings the full force of the PES behind one lead candidate, and allows us to kick-start our campaign", the Party of European Socialists (PES) announced in a press release on Monday 5 November.
For the president of the PES, Sergei Stanishev, Timmermans represents "a change of direction for Europe" in that "social justice, equality and sustainability will be at the heart of his agenda". And he praised Timmermans' action on the defence of the rule of law with regard to countries such as Poland and Hungary, as well as on the defence of gender equality.
Internally, it is recognised that the game was almost played in advance in that Timmermans benefits from the support of big national parties such as Germany's SPD, Italy's PD, Spain's PSOE and Portugal's PS.
In a letter to Stanishev, Šefčovič wished the vice-president of the European Commission the best of luck "in these demanding times" in which Europe's very existence is at stake, and he said he was ready to work closely with Timmermans.
Timmermans will thus be the only candidate for Spitzenkandidat agreed upon by the S&D Group at the European Parliament on Tuesday 6 November. Šefčovič will make a few statements to press on his decision to withdraw. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)