Ten heads of the list are fighting for the presidency of the European Commission in the 9J elections

Von der Leyen starts as a favorite with the support of the majority of the European Parliament and the 27

BRUSSELS, June 5 () –

A dozen politicians have assumed the leadership of the campaigns of their European families for the elections to the European Parliament, although of them only the candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP), the German Ursula von der Leyen, has real options to preside over the European Commission in the next legislature, already having the support of the majority group in Parliament and having garnered support among the Twenty-Seven during its first mandate.

The results of these elections, to which some 373 million Europeans are called, will be known on Sunday, when voting has concluded in all member states, which will determine the weight of each party in a European Parliament that is expected to be very fragmented. The hemicycle that emerges from these elections will also have the last word to approve the person chosen to preside over the Commission once the leaders have negotiated the distribution of the main positions in the EU (‘top jobs’ in the community jargon).

The current leader of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen, is the favorite to revalidate the position with the support of the ‘popular’ European family, although this is the first European electoral campaign for the German, who was elected to occupy the presidency of the Commission in 2019 despite the fact that his party then nominated the also German Manfred Weber, current president of the EPP, as a candidate.

In these elections, now as an official candidate, she will face the person who has been her Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights for the last five years, the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit, candidate of the Social Democrats (S&D), who has already warned Von der Leyen that his Approaching the extreme right would be the “red line” of the socialists to collaborate, although during the campaign he has dedicated more time to talking about occupying a relevant vice presidency than about his support for presiding over the Commission.

However, although both have been designated as heads of their respective groups, neither of them appears on the lists to occupy one of the 720 seats in the European Parliament, unlike their rivals. In any case, as there are no transnational lists, candidates who do compete for a seat may only be voted for in the Member State in which they are running.

For its part, the liberal group (Renew), which includes the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the European Democratic Party and Renaissance and of which Ciudadanos or the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) are part, has appointed three heads of the list: German deputy Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann; the Italian MEP Sandro Gozi and the French MEP Valérie Hayer, president of the group in the European Parliament.

Like Schmit, Gozi also warned that his group will always say “no” to alliances with the extreme right but, despite demanding that the EPP distance itself from extreme parties, he did not want to answer whether for the same reason it will be excluded from the liberals the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), a formation that in the Netherlands has joined the government coalition of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) of Geert Wilders.

Also the Austrian Walter Baier, current president of the European Left Party – which includes Podemos or Izquierda Unida – has been very critical of the “populist speeches of the extreme right” during his campaign interventions after be chosen to defend the candidacy of your group.

TANDEM OF THE GREEN

Meanwhile, the Greens have opted for a tandem candidacy represented by the co-president of the parliamentary group, the German Terry Reintke, and the Dutch MEP Bas Eickhout, whose main challenge will be to try to maintain the numbers that in 2019 made them the fourth force in the chamber. to lobby for environmental policies beneficial to nature in the face of movements such as climate denialism.

This group also brings together MEPs from the European Free Alliance (EFA), which represents minorities that defend the right to self-determination but who, despite being part of the coalition, have also presented the Spanish Raül Romeva and the German Maylis Rosberg as candidates. own in a symbolic candidacy and although the former Foreign Minister of the Generalitat and member of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) is still disqualified from holding public office.

NO EXTREME RIGHT CANDIDATES

The far-right groups of the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, for its acronym in English) – which now include Vox and the far-right Brothers of Italy of Giorgia Meloni – and Identity and Democracy (ID) have not officially appointed to any candidate, which frustrated their participation in the electoral debate organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in the chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels on May 23.

However, Danish MEP Anders Vistisen has acted as an ID representative in other unofficial debates organized by international media.

NEXT STEPS

When the weight of each family is defined, negotiations will begin on July 10 for the constitution of the political groups, which must be made up of deputies elected in at least a quarter of the member states – that is, at least in seven — and have at least 23 deputies.

Once formed, the new legislature will officially begin on July 16 in Strasbourg, when at least the name chosen by the EU leaders to preside over the European Parliament will be submitted to a plenary vote. The person designated by the 27 to preside over the community Executive also needs the approval of the plenary session, but it remains to be defined whether it will be in July or in September.