European Parliament Election: May 23-26, 2019

[Velasco]

Spanish MEP Iratxe García will lead the Socialist group

https://www.politico.eu/article/bullmann-concedes-socialist-group/

Spanish MEP Iratxe García is poised to take over the leadership of the Socialist group in the European Parliament after the German incumbent, Udo Bullmann, dropped out of the race rather than face certain defeat.

 

Horribly biased sources, but it's not like there are many in English:

Pro-independence media reporting about "political prisoners" is about as biased as Madrid conservative media talking about "coup plotters" (prosecutors claim there was a "coup d'etat", too). Personally I think Junqueras and the others are not political prisoners, but their prolonged preventive detention is abusive.

Search other media in English

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/spain-blocks-catalan-leader-oriol-junqueras-joining-eu-parliament


 https://www.politico.eu/article/oriol-junqueras-spanish-court-refuses-to-let-jailed-catalan-out-of-prison-to-fill-in-mep-forms/

[Diouf]

Interesting possibility as Verhofstadt replacement. He was previously EPP commissioner, but with his new party, he is in ALDE. Perhaps a more consensus choice for the whole ALDE group than someone strongly left-liberal and federalist as Verhofstadt (who will be more out of the limelight now?)

Romanian ex-prime minister and former EU commissioner Dacian Ciolos has emerged as frontrunner in the race to lead the new liberal alliance in the European Parliament, according to sources in the group. Ciolos's USR-PLUS is the third-largest delegation in the Renew Europe group, with eight MEPs. His bid received a boost after the largest delegation, France, backed him. The vote will take place on Wednesday morning.

https://euobserver.com/tickers/145184

[Diouf]

No Italian in the EPP leadership for the first time. It seems like Silvio Berlusconi is taking up his seat, but it seems more likely that Tajani will take the sole FI topjob. I'm guessing Berlusconi will be there once and a while to make a speech, but probably not as a full-time job.

Once upon a time… there was Italy. However, in the next European legislature Italy will have no representatives in the board of the European People’s Party group (EPP), the most prominent political organism within the European Parliament. For the first time in the history of the elected European Parliament, the Italian delegation will not have the vice presidency of the group. The unprecedented, negative, result is the further demonstration of the political weakness of the founding country of the EU.

The distribution of the top jobs is made by using the D’Hondt method, which is the highest averages method for allocating seats on proportional basis. In simpler words, size matters and Forza Italia is too small to wish for more than one top position.

Silvio Berlusconi’s party has at disposal one and only prominent position. Once it was clear that the Italian delegation couldn’t have more than this – the official candidacy for the vice-presidency of the EPP group was withdrawn. Italians will try to run for a more political and more substantial role – the vice-presidency of the European Parliament or chairing one of the Parliamentary committees.

https://euelectionsitaly.blog/italy-no-seats-epp-group-presidency-it-never-happened-before/

[DavidB.]

Flemish N-VA have just decided to remain in ECR even though Vox appear to be entering the group too.

[Andrea]

Dacian Ciolos (Romania) wins Renew Europe (ex ALDE) leadership vote. He beats  Sophie In’t Veld (Netherlands, D66) 65 to 41 votes. The third candidate Fredrick Ferderley (Sweden, Centre) withdrew

[Zinneke]

Dacian Ciolos (Romania) wins Renew Europe (ex ALDE) leadership vote. He beats  Sophie In’t Veld (Netherlands, D66) 65 to 41 votes. The third candidate Fredrick Ferderley (Sweden, Centre) withdrew

Not sure it was mentioned but Loiseau was supposed to be a shoe in but cocked up in typical french fashion by slagging off In 't Veld and other prominent members from her own grouping.

[Diouf]

Dacian Ciolos (Romania) wins Renew Europe (ex ALDE) leadership vote. He beats  Sophie In’t Veld (Netherlands, D66) 65 to 41 votes. The third candidate Fredrick Ferderley (Sweden, Centre) withdrew

And Malik Azmani from VVD is First Deputy Chair. So a win for the national liberals in the group, at least on the surface. Both Renaissance and Ciudadons supported Ciolos, while Lib Dems supported in 't Veld, according to Politico.

Cioloș, who has strong ties to France, had won the endorsement of French President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance delegation as well as Ciudadanos, the Spanish liberal party. He was elected with 64 votes against 42, defeating Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld, who had the endorsement of Britain's Liberal Democrats.

https://www.politico.eu/article/ex-romanian-prime-minister-renew-europe/

[Andrea]

The other Renew Europe Vice Presidents are

Iskra MIHAYLOVA (MRF, Bulgaria)
Katalin CSEH (Momentum, Hungary)
Frédérique RIES (MR, Belgium)
Morten LØKKEGAARD (Venstre, Denmark)
Luis GARICANO (Ciudadanos, Spain)
Dominique RIQUET (Renaissance, France)
Martin HORWOOD (LibDems, UK)

[Ethelberth]

Estonia's government has moved quickly on naming the country's next commissioner, with a proposal from prime minister Juri Ratas to submit Centre Party minister, Kadri Simson, as a candidate approved on Thursday

https://euobserver.com/tickers/145103

Are other commissioners already known?

Jutta Urpilainen (SDP) will be the commissioner from Finland.

Urpilainen shall be first Finnish not Savonian comissioner,  a new development in Finland.

[Diouf]

Sefcovic re-nominated as commissioner.

https://twitter.com/MarosSefcovic/status/1141308482731290625

It seems likely that Mariya Gabriel could be re-nominated in Bulgaria. She only became a commissioner in 2017, so might get a full term now. She won a MEP seat, but has already declined to take it up, which points towards her staying in the Commission.

[DavidB.]

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

[Andrea]

Only GUE left to appoint leader. S&D need to sort out Vice Presidents too.

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

Co-Treasures

Angel Dzhambazki (Bulgaria, IMRO)
Kosma Zlotowski (Poland, PiS)

[Tender Branson]

All 28 countries now have final or certified/official results:

19 have final results, while 9 have already certified their results.

https://election-results.eu

S&D+RE+Greens/EFA+GUE/NGL: 50%
EPP+ID+ECR+EFDD: 48%
Others: 2%

[Andrea]

S&D need to sort out Vice Presidents too.

Elected this afternoon

Eric Andrieu (France)
Biljana Borzan (Croatia)
Miriam Dalli (Malta)
Helene Fritzon (Sweden)
Roberto Gualtieri (Italy)
Bernd Lange (Germany)
Claude Moraes (UK)
Kati Piri (Netherlands)
Rovana Plumb (Romania)

Eero Heinaluoma (Finland) as Treasurer.

[Classic Conservative]

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

This alliance seems much more conservative than beforehand for some reason.

[DavidB.]

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

This alliance seems much more conservative than beforehand for some reason.

The Tories and ODS used to dominate the group, but now that PiS won 26 seats (they had 14) and the Tories only have 4 (and are supposed to be out of the EU soon), PiS have clearly taken the opportunity to invite likeminded movements. The Danish People's Party and the Finns Party were on the right of the group and have left to ID, but Forum and Vox have a similar profile and in that sense 'replaced' them. Lots of smallish, less renowned parties who failed to get in this time have been replaced by fewer parties who won more seats and have a more clear national conservative profile. As an FVD member I am really happy how all of this turned out.

[DavidB.]

CU have joined EPP.

[Diouf]

Liberals and Socialists will not back Weber

The Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament will not back conservative Manfred Weber for Commission president, parliamentary leaders said Thursday.

Weber, a German MEP, is the nominee for the EU’s top job of the center-right European People’s Party.

"The liberal and social democratic group heads formally told the EPP leader Manfred Weber that he will not get their votes,” the Greens leader, Philippe Lamberts, said at a news conference.

The Greens have yet to make a decision on Weber, Lamberts said."We need to find agreement on a program, " he said. "Do we have it? Not yet. We don't exclude anyone."

So Weber is rejected by the other parliamentary groups, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of support for him in the European Council either. So the question is whether the EPP will formally change its candidate, and who they will informally bring into play during the Council summit today and tomorrow. And if an EPP candidate, who will not be Weber, is nominated as Commission President, how will the European Parliament react?

https://www.politico.eu/article/liberals-greens-weber/

[Velasco]

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

Hernann Tertsch has an inreresting profile. Born in 1958, he is son of the Austrian journalist and diplomat Ekkehard Tertsch and a Basque woman called Felisa del Valle-Lersundi, as well he is cousin of Loyola de Palacio (a deceased PP politician who held the agriculture portfolio with José María Aznar and was Vice-Chair of the EU Commission). Tertsch was member of the Communist Party of the Basque Country  (PCE-EPK) in his younger days. He has a long professional career as journalist, having worked in the progressive-leaning El País since 1985 (correspondent in Bonn and Warsaw, Yugoslavia conflict). His progressive turn to the right and disagreements on foreign policy led him to leave El Pais definitely by 2007. Since then he has collaborated in a wide range of conservative media, particularly in the news service of the Madrid regional TV channel, the ABC newspaper, Libertad Digital, esRadio and some others. Tertsch is a controversial personage who has protagonized many disputes and is the author of  some books (once I read something he wrote about the Balkans)

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Spitzenkandidat system was never going to work out as intended whenever serious coalition building was involved. It would have been more undemocratic to impose Weber when he has the backing of less than a quarter of the parliament. Parliamentary systems in any country involve negotiations between parties when no one has an absolute majority (except in Canada, because Canada is weird and f**ked up).

That doesn't mean it's worthless. It's still good to have a general "first offer" to see where a party stands. And sometime one of them might actually be selected if they're accepted to the coalition partners. That is, again, how normal parliamentary systems work.

[Diouf]

As part of the Danish government negotiations, it was agreed that Margrethe Vestager will be appointed to another term as commissioner. Obviously a Danish government would always give her support if she could be named President of the Commission, but it was much less clear that she would be reappointed to another term in other circumstances. There have been previously been very popular commissioners , which have not been reappointed. Social Liberals have had a strong wish for reappointment, which they got through in the negotiations.

[Farmlands]

The Spitzenkandidat system was never going to work out as intended whenever serious coalition building was involved. It would have been more undemocratic to impose Weber when he has the backing of less than a quarter of the parliament. Parliamentary systems in any country involve negotiations between parties when no one has an absolute majority (except in Canada, because Canada is weird and f**ked up).

That doesn't mean it's worthless. It's still good to have a general "first offer" to see where a party stands. And sometime one of them might actually be selected if they're accepted to the coalition partners. That is, again, how normal parliamentary systems work.

What the hell, I tend to be a pretty informed voter and I heard nothing about this process in Portugal, only the programs and stakes for the national parties. The EU has a real problem with communications, it won't be seen as trying to be more democratic in plenty of countries continuing like this.

[Andrea]

GUE leadership

"João Ferreira (PCP, Portugal), Marisa Matias (Bloco de Esquerda, Portugal), Martin Schirdewan (DIE LINKE, Germany) and Nikolaj Villumsen (Red-Green Alliance, Denmark) will together lead the group of 41 MEPs, with Martin Schirdewan serving as acting President.

The group will assess the arrangement over the coming weeks with the aim of ensuring the strongest possible representation and voice for Left values in Europe and beyond."


I guess this means they still have to bargain between parties...

[Helsinkian]

Looks like EFDD has failed to get the members from seven member states needed to qualify as a group.

[Zinneke]

The Spitzenkandidat system was never going to work out as intended whenever serious coalition building was involved. It would have been more undemocratic to impose Weber when he has the backing of less than a quarter of the parliament. Parliamentary systems in any country involve negotiations between parties when no one has an absolute majority (except in Canada, because Canada is weird and f**ked up).

That doesn't mean it's worthless. It's still good to have a general "first offer" to see where a party stands. And sometime one of them might actually be selected if they're accepted to the coalition partners. That is, again, how normal parliamentary systems work.

What the hell, I tend to be a pretty informed voter and I heard nothing about this process in Portugal, only the programs and stakes for the national parties. The EU has a real problem with communications, it won't be seen as trying to be more democratic in plenty of countries continuing like this.

This.