European socialists, willing to support Von der Leyen’s re-election if she does not agree with groups of Meloni and Le Pen

BRUSSELS, June 9 () –

The group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament has shown this Sunday its willingness to support the re-election of the conservative Ursula von der Leyen as head of the European Commission in the next legislature, but has done so by making it clear that the pacts with the ultra-right are a red line so they will not support the German if it makes pacts with Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID), the groups of Georgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen in the European Parliament.

This has been suggested by the vice president of S&D Pedro Marques, who in an appearance before the press at the headquarters of the European Parliament before the final results were known, congratulated the European People’s Party for its result in the elections that concluded this Sunday, time that he has stated that the social democratic family “respects the principle of ‘spitzenkandidaten'”, by which the main candidate of the winning party must preside over the European Commission.

Marques has insisted that “the coalitions for a pro-European coalition are in place” and that now it is time to define the “conditions” of a possible pact between the main groups, a negotiation that must address a clear program for the legislature and not focus solely on the approval of a candidate to preside over the community Executive in the next legislature.

According to the latest projections provided by the European Parliament before the first official count data are published, the European People’s Party (EPP) wins the elections with 186 seats of the 720 at stake, followed by the S&D with 133 seats and the Liberals Europeans (Renew), with 82. The Conservatives and Reformists would have obtained 70 seats according to the same estimates and ID, 60. The Greens fell from 71 to 53 and the European Left remained at 36, one less than in the previous legislature.