The EPP Group in the European Parliament wants to take over the Presidency of the European Parliament. On Wednesday 8 September, it launched an internal procedure to nominate its candidate to succeed the Italian social democrat, David Sassoli.
An agreement to ‘share’ the President’s seat was reached at the beginning of the mandate, on 3 July 2019, between the European Parliament’s three main political groups (see EUROPE 12288/1), the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe Groups, the Christian Democrat Group said in a statement.
“The EPP Group has decided to initiate its own internal process to nominate its candidate for President of the European Parliament and commit itself to completing this nomination process by November”, it adds.
The leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Germany’s Manfred Weber, indicated the same day via Twitter that he was not a candidate for the post.
“It is my ambition is to be re-elected as leader of the group. My work is not yet done. Our mission to revive Christian democracy and centre-right parties in Europe is not over. Therefore, I will not run for the Presidency of the European Parliament”, he said.
According to several media reports, Malta’s Roberta Metsola and the Netherlands’ Esther de Lange are interested, as is Spain’s Esteban González Pons, whose name is also being mentioned, a source inside the EPP Group told EUROPE. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)