EU Socialists’ in-house negotiations and the future
of Parliament’s presidency Dear readers, Welcome to EU Politics Decoded, your essential guide for staying up to date and receiving exclusive insights. This is Max Griera, writing from Brussels. Subscribe here. In today’s edition Here’s what we know about the ongoing negotiations in the Socialists’ group, and what that means for the European Parliament presidency. Bits of the week: Volt picks Greens over Renew’s soft hand with far-right; the three radical-right groups taking shape; Hungary’s new opposition says no to weapons for Ukraine; Greens’ and EPP’s old-new leadership. While pushing back against the moves to hoard most top EU jobs by the election-winners, the centre-right EPP, European Socialists are simultaneously rushing to clean their own house and rearrange the internal balance of power in their European Parliament group to reflect the election results. After five years of the Spanish Socialist delegation at the top of the S&D group, the election results put the Italians on top with 21 seats, one more than the Spaniards. In practice, this means that the Italians have the ‘legitimacy’ to claim the presidency of the group, so far held by Spanish MEP Iratxe García Pérez. But it is not that easy. As negotiations between all S&D members are ongoing, the Spaniards are fighting tooth and nail to keep their boss in power. It is also unclear whether the Italians even want that top job, as they could aim at different prizes, such as powerful committee chairmanships, a Parliament vice-presidency or, most importantly, half of the mandate of the Parliament president, expected to be awarded to the Socialists. “Iratxe has an excellent relationship with the leader of the Partito Democratico, Elly Schlein, and she is working for the unity of the S&D and for the group’s presidency to have the majority support of the group,” a source close to García told Euractiv. In fact, talking to many S&D insiders, the general view is that the group chairmanship will likely remain in the hands of the Spaniards. Calls of interest for candidates are already open, the final election is on 25 June. The German Socialists and French Socialists are also playing a major role in determining who gets what, as the third and fourth biggest delegations. While the French are emboldened with their big wins, rising from seven seats to 13 seats, the Germans have dropped from 16 to 14 seats and are keeping a lower profile. “Iratxe Garcia has every right to be reappointed, given the work she has done,” French MEP Thomas Pellerin-Carlin told Euractiv. But he also made clear the French are open to fresh proposals: “If an Italian candidate comes forward, we will look at what is being proposed and the projects that are being put forward.” The French support will come with a price tag, however, as they expect to land two top jobs within the Parliament. First, they hope to place their lead candidate Raphaël Glucksmann in an influential position related to defence as he “has the legitimacy to represent the European Parliament’s position on defence issues” Pellerin-Carlin said. Second, they are also pushing to get one of the S&D vice-presidencies. Christophe Clergeau has already submitted his official candidacy, as per a letter seen by Euractiv, arguing that “we are happy to contribute to the strengthening of our political family [with the new French seats]”. “Our first challenge must be to improve our collective functioning in order to have more impact and be more efficient in an even more right-leaning Parliament where victories will be harder to achieve than before,” Christophe Clergeau continued in his letter, warning that the Socialists must prevent internal rifts. The European Parliament presidency question The centre-right European People’s Party group nominated incumbent Parliament President Roberta Metsola for a second term on Wednesday. While the first 2.5 years of the mandate seem set to go to the centre-right, the second half is still unclear. Before the election, it seemed the post was likely for the Socialists, specifically to German leading MEP Katarina Barley. However, she dismissed such an option after her party’s dismal election results in June. Another option now could be for the Italian Socialists to claim the post if they do not get the group presidency. However, the second half of the Parliament president’s mandate may not be for the Socialists after all. Emboldened by their big win in the EU election, being once again the first force by far, with 190 seats, the EPP has started demanding a bigger piece of the pie when it comes to the EU’s top jobs. During an EU leaders summit on Monday, the EPP asked to have the second half of the European Council presidency, initially supposed to go to the Socialists. With the pushback from the Socialists, the EPP may well change their mind and argue in favour of having the full five-year presidency of the Parliament instead. | 