THE WEEK THAT WAS... (October 28, 2013)

Angela Merkel has poured cold water on European Parliament hopes the European Commission’s next President will automatically be the candidate of the most popular political party in the EP elections next May. “I don’t see any automaticity between top candidates and the filling of posts”, she said. “The Lisbon Treaty says that it should be taken in account. Otherwise, the Commission President will be voted by the Parliament based on a proposal by the EU leaders”. She added that this means there will be many considerations and many discussions after the 22-25 May vote and party candidates cannot necessarily expect to become Commission President. “False promises” should not be made.

A blow for current EP President Martin Schulz, proclaimed candidate of the socialist group, who already regard themselves as the winners of the EP elections; but also for the two liberal bantam weights, the Belgian leader of the liberal group Guy Verhofstadt and the Finnish European Commissioner Olli Rehn. Although there is a question to be asked anyway whether the liberal group will survive the elections with enough political weight (read: seats in the Parliament) to compete. Even the EP far-left has its candidate: Alexis Tsipras, head of Greece’s fresh new party Syriza that became the second biggest party in the last national elections but was pushed into the opposition by the political parties responsible for the Greek disaster.

Only Merkel’s own faction, the centre-right EPP, stayed calm and decided to make a nomination somewhere in March. Jean-Claude Juncker, longterm Luxembourg Prime-Minister, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the centre-right. Recently his party lost the national elections and it looks although the other parties would like, after so many years, to govern in Luxembourg without him. That could be his chance for the Commission Presidency. The EPP always looks after its own.