On Wednesday 5 June, the EPP group in the European Parliament unanimously reappointed the current group chairman from Germany, Manfred Weber, but it may be on a temporary basis if he takes over the presidency of the European Commission or another senior European position.
Alongside him, ten Vice-Chairs were elected on the basis of the highest number of votes obtained: Dubravka Šuica (Croatia), Esteban González Pons (Spain), Ewa Kopacz (Poland), Siegfried Mureșan (Romania), Mairead McGuiness (Ireland), Esther de Lange (Netherlands), Arnaud Danjean (France), Andrey Kovatchev (Bulgaria), Evangelos Meimarakis (Greece) and Paulo Rangel (Portugal).
The Hungarian delegation of Fidesz, whose party is suspended from the European People's Party, has chosen to abstain and not to present a candidate. The Italian candidate, Massimiliano Salini, withdrew from the race, and the Swede Tomas Tobé did not receive enough votes.
Commenting on his re-election, Manfred Weber described his win as indicating strong support for his “candidacy to head the Commission”.
But, while discussions with other groups in the European Parliament have started - in particular with the Greens/EFA, according to sources from the EPP - the group chairman has also said several times that he is ready to make “compromises”. He nonetheless confirmed that the current discussions are focused more on the contents of a future coalition program than on the “leadership”.
In any case, no agreement with the “eurosceptics” is being considered, the German reiterated.
The EPP group is the first of Parliament's political groups to form and elect its Vice-Chairs (see EUROPE 12267/1). It will have to hold elections for President and possibly for a new Vice-President if Manfred Weber were to take up another European position.
In the meantime, the EPP group’s rapid pace has been seen as a small satisfaction, with some sources inside the group jeering at the complex situations within the S&D groups, after the poor showing by the German SPD, and ALDE&R, which has yet to find its footing with the newcomers from the French République en Marche!. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Martin Molko)