At 6 p.m. today, Monday 17 January, the first plenary session of the European Parliament this year will include a formal tribute to President David Sassoli, who died on the 11th (see EUROPE 12866/1). The next day will see the election of the next President of the Parliament. And on Wednesday 19 January, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, will return to Strasbourg for second time in three days to address the MEPs and outline the major objectives of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU. Will he announce his intention to run for a second term in office before the largest institution of the EU? Now, that would be interesting …
The general public still know little about what the President of the European Parliament actually does, even though the visibility of the post has increased over time. Obviously, the job involves presiding over plenary sessions, the Bureau and the Conference of the Presidents of the Political Groups, but also supervising all work carried out, announcing the adoption of the annual EU budget, co-signing all legislative acts adopted under the co-decision procedure and representing the Parliament to the other institutions, internationally and before the media. The President has the backing of a solid administration, headed up by the Secretary General.
The forerunner to the European Parliament was the Common Assembly of the ECSC (1954-1958), which had four Presidents, beginning with Paul-Henri Spaak. Following the entry into force of the Treaties of Rome, it took the name Parliamentary Assembly of the European Communities (1958-1962) with two successive Presidents, one of whom was Robert Schuman; it subsequently proclaimed itself the ‘European Parliament’. Over the period 1958-1979, nine individuals held the post, which was shared between the major European political families. All members of the European Parliament, who were seconded by their national parliaments, were second-degree parliamentarians. Election to the Parliament by direct universal suffrage, which began in 1979, considerably increased the institution’s legitimacy and fame. To begin with, the presidential position was held, for two and a half years, by Simone Veil, of France, the country’s former health minister, now at rest in the Panthéon. She was the first woman to hold this post; the second was her fellow Frenchwoman, Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002). Only Germany’s Martin Schulz, who was re-elected following the elections of 2014, would occupy the top job or five years. Taking account of all periods of its existence, David Sassoli was the 31st President. He is the second to have died in office; the first to do so was his compatriot Alcide de Gasperi (in 1954).
The procedure to elect a President has twice been carried out before the scheduled end of the legislative period: once just after the European elections and once halfway through. The candidates are usually proposed by the political groups. In order to be elected, a candidate must win 50% of the votes plus one. This absolute majority cannot be less than the absolute majority of all MEPs, not including absentions or spoiled ballot sheets. To get a candidate to the required number, several rounds are possible, but these are limited to four. If, after the third round, there is no sign of an absolute majority emerging, only the two members with the highest number of votes remain in contention. In the hypothetical event of a tie in votes cast, the older candidate is deemed the winner. The next step is then to elect the 14 vice-presidents and five quaestors, taking account of political, geographical and gender balances. Awarding all these posts is inevitably the subject of negotiations between the various political groups.
David Sassoli was born in 1956 in Florence, where he earned his degree in political science. He opted for a career in journalism and began at the bottom: local newspapers, human interest stories for RAI’s third channel. Later, he became the host of the 8 p.m. news on the first channel and became famous. In the run-up to the European elections of 2009, he took the top spot on the list of the Italian Democratic Party for the ‘Centre’ region. Once a member of the European Parliament, he was re-elected in 2014 and 2019. During his second term, he made a name for himself as a member of the committee on transport and tourism; certainly, the MEPs made him one of the vice-presidents of the European Parliament (the ninth on his first time out, then, in 2017, the third), which allowed him to familiarise himself with all aspects of the governance of the institution.
In July 2019, the European Council agreed on a ‘package’ to share out the most senior EU positions, under which the Presidency of the European Parliament would belong to the Social Democrats for the first half of the legislative period and to the EPP for the second half, as a sort of ‘consolation prize’ for Manfred Weber, the unsuccessful EPP candidate for the Presidency of the Commission. In the event, he was disinclined to accept.
As for the first half of the term in office, the ‘leaders’ would have been happy to see Bulgaria’s Sergei Stanichev, chair of the Party of European Socialists, at the helm – so as to rejig the ‘package’ in favour of the ‘new Europe’. But the S&D put forward David Sassoli. As neither the EPP nor Renew Europe had proposed a candidate, the battle would be played out between Sassoli, Zahradil (ECR), Keller (Greens/EFA) and Rego (The Left). Sassoli came out of the first round with the highest result, 325 out of 662 votes cast; he was elected in the second round with 345 out of 667 votes cast. The extra votes in his favour seem to have come mainly from Green MEPs.
EUROPE reported on the widely shared emotion at the announcement of the President’s death. Sassoli was extremely well-liked by MEPs and institution staff. His commitment to Europe was unwavering and well argued. He won respect for the institution, not hesitating to distance himself from the Commission when required, for instance with his tireless insistence on the need for new own resources for the EU budget to be created and taking the Commission before the Court of Justice over its failure to apply the ‘rule of law conditionality’ regulation (see EUROPE 12823/6). He steered the ship through the storm of the pandemic, pulling off the major feat of keeping the institution’s work going in full respect of the public health rules. He demonstrated his solidarity with citizens living in poverty by opening up the premises of the Parliament to them (see EUROPE B12485 A31). He took steps to improve the transparency and communication skills of the institution, speaking frankly to journalists. He was ardently in favour of a true Health Europe and hoped that the Conference on the Future of Europe would lead to a reform of primary law.
Following his first spell in hospital last autumn, David Sassoli bravely returned to his post. His speech before the European Council on 16 December stands as a testament. Stressing Europe’s existing shortcomings, the President called for a new European project born of hope, “project to unite us, a project that embodies our Union, our values and our civilisation, a project whose worth is clear for all Europeans to see and which can be our rallying point”. He described his vision of a Europe that innovates, protects and enlightens, a Europe that is a “beacon and inspiration not only for our fellow citizens in Europe, but also beyond our borders”. Then, for the last time, he signed the institutional declaration setting out the legislative priorities of the EU for the coming year (see EUROPE B12855 A7).
On 23 December, he made his final public statement in a video to mark Christmas, speaking out against the walls that are springing up on our borders and making the case for justice for all. Finally, in a Tweet on 1 January, from his hospital bed once more, he celebrated the 20th anniversary of the euro, describing it as a “symbol of peace and integration”. David Sassoli’s funeral was held on 14 January in the Santa Maria degli Angeli church in Rome, attracting an enormous and highly emotional crowd.
In accordance with the internal rules of procedure of the Parliament, the first vice-president, Roberta Metsola of Malta, is holding the fort. On 24 November 2021, she was made the EPP’s official candidate for the Presidency (see EUROPE 12839/21). Born in Malta on 18 January 1979, Ms Metsola will celebrate her birthday on the day the MEPs vote. The holder of a PhD in law from the University of Malta, she rounded out her education with a Master’s from the College of Europe. She has worked for the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU (2004-2012) and the European External Action Service (2012-2013). A member of the nationalist party, she tried her luck in the European elections for the first time in 2004. It was not until after the departure of MEP Simon Busutill that she made her debut at the European Parliament in April 2013 – and has not left it since. Having been a member of the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs for all that time, she has also served on the petitions committee. In 2014, she became a member of the delegation for relations with the United States. In October 2020, Mairead McGuinness joined the European Commission, freeing up the post of first vice-president: Roberta Metsola was elected as her successor, adding greatly to her experience and giving her the opportunity to chair meetings in President Sassoli’s absence. She ‘knows the score’.
As things stand, with the Renew Europe and S&D groups (see EUROPE 12853/20) having so far failed to appoint any candidates, her competition comes from groups that do not have numbers on their side. There are four official candidates at the moment, three of them women: the MEPs are clearly showing their religion to alternate between the sexes in the top job.
On 7 December, the ECR group appointed Poland’s Kosma Złotowski, a Conservative who is highly critical of the Parliament itself (see EUROPE B12848 A28). The past positions on his CV include television journalist, Mayor and member of the national parliament. An MEP since 2019, he sits on three committees (TRAN, PETI and AIDA). A member of the notorious PiS, the party currently in power in Poland, there is a ‘his master’s voice’ side to him in the hemicycle.
The Left selected Sira Rego of Spain on 8 December (see EUROPE 12849/14 and EUROPE 12853/20). A nutritionist by training, she was previously the deputy mayor of Rivas-Vaciamadrid; elected to the EP in 2019, she is highly engaged in favour of feminism, the environment, migrants and public services.
The Greens finally broke the suspense by appointing Sweden’s Alice Kuhnke on 11 January (see EUROPE 12866/27). A native of Malmö, she previously worked in television (another one!) before earning a degree in politics from the University of Stockholm. She was Director-General of the Swedish agency for youth and civil society, then Minister for Culture and Democracy (2014-2019) under the social-democratic government. A member of the EP since 2019, she sits on the LIBE and FEMM committees.
The current share-out of seats is as follows: EPP: 177; S&D: 144; Renew Europe: 100; Greens: 72; ECR: 64; The Left: 39; Identity and Democracy (far right): 70; independents: 36. The three largest parties with majority support for the von der Leyen Commission have 421 seats between them and the majority required to be elected President is 352.
Roberta Metsola certainly starts as favourite, but it cannot be taken for granted that she will pull in all the votes from the three largest groups. She gave a good account of herself in her hearings before the S&D group (see EUROPE 12687/2) and, albeit to a lesser extent, Renew Europe (see EUROPE 12849/14). Her Achilles heel is generally agreed to lie in her lack of clear commitment in favour of women’s rights, particularly her well-known opposition to abortion, which certain centrist and left-wing MEPs will be unable to overlook. The Liberals are concerned that the Parliament would be sending out the wrong message to the general public by electing as its most senior official the polar opposite of Simone Veil.
The suspense surrounding the vote is therefore very real and more than two rounds may prove necessary.
It is against this backdrop that President Macron will enter the hemicycle the next day to give a highly anticipated speech: it remains to be seen whether it will correspond to the pro-European beliefs of most of the MEPs and of David Sassoli, whom they will long mourn, himself.
Renaud Denuit.