EU Parliament Presidency: Election or Selection?

On Tuesday 17 January, Members of European Parliament will vote for a new president, but the exercise, whose outcome is already a foregone conclusion, has drawn criticism for flouting the democratic procedure.

The president, as it was agreed two and half years ago, will be Martin Schulz, current Chair of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group (S&D), the second largest group in the European Parliament holding 190 of the 754 seats.

Even when selling books in a bookshop in the 1980s, an ambitious Martin Schulz was working hard to become an elected politician in Germany. While he was the mayor of the small town of Würselen, near the South Eastern border city of Aachen, he made some good friends in Berlin and became a member of the SPD Party Council.

In 1994 he went to Brussels where he later became the leader of the German SPD Group in European Parliament. Schulz became the President of the European Parliament’s Socialist group in 2004 and has kept that position to this date.

Many have quietly criticized his “egoistic ambitions” to get the top job in the Parliament at any cost. “On a number of occasions, Schulz has asked his group to be less aggressive vis-à-vis its main opponent, the European People's Party Group (EPP), to make sure not to compromise his election,” MEPs told EurActiv website.

He has even contracted with two other main groups to make sure that EP Presidency candidates will be barred from making a five-minute presentation to MEPs ahead of the presidency vote during the Strasbourg plenary on Tuesday, so that members would not think of changing their minds in the last minute.

“The leaders of the European parliament's main groups may have already determined who will win this election but surely there is no harm in allowing the three candidates to set out their stall in front of the whole parliament,” Martin Callanan Chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) protested.

A Selection, not an Election

Carmen Hernandez, a blogger on EU affairs said: “I think Martin Schulz is the least suitable person for this job. The Germans in general seem to feel EU is their property and treat others with disrespect. All key posts in Parliament are directly or indirectly controlled by them.”

Ever since Schultz got the chairmanship of the Socialist Group, all upcoming EP Presidents have been “selected” in a setup between the Socialists and EPP Group rather than “elected” as a result of the members’ choice as is the general public assumption, Hernandez says. The German National TV Deutsche Welle went so far to call Martin Schulz “Designated President of European Parliament” even before the ballot is cast.

The 'Heir Apparent'

A source within the S&D says that Schulz has even tried to impose similar arrangements within his group by inciting members to support his 'protégé' and 'heir apparent' the Austrian Hannes Swoboda to take over his job as group leader after his departure.

Together with Schultz, Swoboda has reportedly long planned this setup by handing a few ‘protocol-but-non-decision-making’ parliament posts to new Eastern European States and has acted like their ‘godfather’ to secure their support for his potential chairmanship.

Next week’s election creates little enthusiasm as all seems to be fixed in advance. One question Schulz might have to answer will be “How much democracy did he leave behind in the Socialist Group,” Hernandez asks.

ENDS

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