Strasbourg, 15/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left has appointed its President as candidate for the Presidency of the European Parliament, France's Francis Wurtz, member of Parliament since 1979. In a press release, the Group states that the election of the president of the Parliament "offers the progressive movement - which exceeds the limits of the GUE/NGL alone - in favour of an in-depth redirection of the Union's policy, a break with today's dominant neo-liberal options, the opportunity of clearly expressing this political will in the first round of balloting". In the following rounds, the press release adds, each MEP will be able to chose among the two candidates to have come on top he or she who, according to them, should preside over Parliament.
You may recall that, on a proposal of the Liberal Group, the President of which, Pat Cox, is a candidate to succeed Nicole Fontaine, a public debate between the different candidates for the EP presidency will be held - and this is a first - in Brussels on 28 November. So far, the candidates are: Liberal Pat Cox, backed by the EPP-ED, British Labour member David Martin, French Communist Francis Wurtz and the member of the Danish June Movement, Jens-Peter Bonde (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4).
European Parliament Plenary Session