As the European Council sought (in vain, so far) to fill the EU’s top jobs, national leaders were repeatedly reminded of one thing: The European Parliament elects its own president, and the contest for that job seems wide open.
Without an EU top jobs package deal obligating political group leaders to push for a specific outcome, ambitious MEPs are expected to wage a pitched battle for the top post, with an election to be held Wednesday during the new Parliament’s first plenary session in Strasbourg.
EU leaders suspended their negotiations, to resume Tuesday, and there is still a chance they will reach an agreement that seeks to force Parliament’s hand, though the assembly would not be legally obligated to follow such a deal.
But failure to reach a deal in the Council would give the Parliament the chance to take the first step in shaping the EU’s future leadership, and their choice could easily constrain the options of EU heads of state and government when it comes to other senior positions, including the Commission and Council presidents and the high representative for foreign affairs.
Leaders in Parliament noted that they are required to choose their president, 14 vice presidents and five quaestors, no matter the status of other negotiations.
“We will elect our president regardless of the outcome of the Council, whether there is an agreement between member states or whether there isn’t,” Antonio Tajani, the current Parliament president, told reporters following his traditional introductory speech to leaders at a Council summit on Sunday.
Under Parliament rules, the assembly cannot function until they have chosen their own leadership, and the political groups or those with the backing of 38 MEPs have until Tuesday to submit nominees. The election is held by secret ballot.
In addition to choosing the leadership, MEPs must also decide on the size and composition of the Parliament’s committees.
So far, the candidates who have officially declared campaigns to replace Tajani include Jan Zahradil, a euro-critical MEP from the Czech Republic, and Sira Rego, a Spanish MEP from the United Left. But an array of others are expected to seek the post, including Tajani, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, and perhaps German MEP Manfred Weber, the conservative nominee for Commission president who seems not to have sufficient support for that job.
Zahradil, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists group who also ran as its lead candidate for the Commission presidency, said he is seeking the Parliament job because he wants a more level playing field for pro-EU and Euroskeptic MEPs. “I want to see a more neutral European Parliament president who treats all political groups, parties and individuals fairly and equally,” Zahradil said.
Other likely candidates have been working hard behind the scenes to build support, even without formally declaring their bids.
Verhofstadt, the longtime liberal leader and former Belgian prime minister, proposed a tentative deal with the conservatives to install himself as president of the Parliament in return for helping secure the Commission presidency for Weber and the conservative European People’s Party (EPP).
But support for Verhofstadt seems mixed at best, and as Weber’s candidacy failed to generate support in the Council, a deal emerged that would have him run for Parliament president instead, potentially making him Verhofstadt’s toughest rival.
Tajani is also believed to harbor ambitions to hold on to his job, and he was one of several EPP leaders to react furiously on Sunday to news of a proposal to install Weber as Parliament president.
Though Tajani has no clear support from political groups, including in his own conservative camp, one official described him as “the candidate of stability in those uncertain times.”
But Tajani has made controversial statements that have drawn criticism, including reportedly that Benito Mussolini had done “positive things” for Italy.
Another potential contender is Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness of the EPP, and it is rumored that Italian MEP David Sassoli, a Social Democrat, has expressed interest in the job. McGuinness, a two-term MEP, could have appeal as an Irish woman at a time when gender parity, geographic diversity and balance between small and big EU countries are all major imperatives.
Last week, one Green Party official said the group would “decide in time” on its preferred candidate. The Greens’ co-leader, German MEP Ska Keller, was on Monday put forward as a candidate for Parliament president.
In the Council, officials have expressed concern about allowing Parliament to set the pace by filling the first of the top jobs. Because the EU treaties require balance, the Council officials argue that they should be allowed to first fill the Commission presidency, the bloc’s top executive position, with the selections for other posts to follow.
If Parliament does elect its president before the Council reaches a broader deal, “it would mean that there’s an idea of a possible coalition, but it would be a coalition stemming from Parliament and not from leaders and at the same time it would narrow the Council’s options,” one EU diplomat said.
“I am not sure this is something the Council would like, and I say ‘not sure’ to be very diplomatic,” the diplomat added.
Others said having the Parliament vote first could undermine the chances of some political families claiming other senior positions.
“Without the package, Parliament could find itself in an awkward position, for a group winning the [Parliament] presidency could prejudge its chances to get one of the other presidencies,” a European diplomat said. “Why should you push for one of yours if this means that you then have smaller chances to win one of the other positions,” a senior EU diplomat said.
In 2014, the election of the president of the Parliament was not part of the negotiations over other leadership positions because it was widely known in advance that there was a deal between Jean-Claude Juncker, the conservative former prime minister of Luxembourg, and his Socialist rival for the top job, Germany’s Martin Schulz. Under that deal, Schulz returned to the Parliament presidency and together he and Juncker formed a “grand coalition” that controlled EU policy for the first half of Juncker’s mandate.
Because Schulz had already served one two-and-a-half year term as Parliament president, a deal was reached to give him one more term and then to award the position to a conservative for the rest of Juncker’s mandate (that person was Tajani).
This year’s European election result, in which the big center-right and center-left parties combined lost roughly 70 seats, while Greens, liberals and populists surged, makes the process of choosing a Parliament president far more complicated. Officials widely expect a broad, pro-EU majority coalition to form that would include the conservatives, Socialists, liberals and the Greens. But none of those groups have sufficient muscle to push through a candidate on their own.
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