On 17 January MEPs will elect a successor to current president Martin Schulz, who is stepping down and will then go on to decide on who will be vice-presidents and quaestors. Romanian MEP Ramona Mănescu (PNL, EPP) stated her support for the EPP candidate for Parliament presidency, Antonion Tajani, arguing that he will be able to bring more union between the political groups in the EP.
”With his experience, he will be a bridge builder between the political forces inside this House and a strong voice outside”, stated Mănescu on her Facebook page.
Antonio Tajani has been nominated late last year as EPP candidate for the leadership of the European Parliament elections of 17 January 2017. Antonio Tajani (63) has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1994. He was Vice-President of the European Commission from 2008 until 2014, first as Commissioner for Transport (2008-10), then as Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship (2010-14). He became the First Vice-President of the European Parliament in 2014 and has been Vice-President of the European People’s Party since 2002.
These EP president elections have caused divisions among traditional political families, EPP criticising European socialist and European liberals groups for breaking the agreement of mutual support signed in 2014. The agreement stipulated that in the first half of the European Parliament mandate the presidency will be held by S & D (with Martin Schulz as president), and in the second half of the PPE.
Along with Antonio Tajani, another six MEPs are running for the position of EP President: Gianni Pittella (Socialists and Democrats – S&D), Helga Stevens (European Conservatives and Reformists group – ECR), Guy Verhofstadt (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – ALDE), Eleonora Fiore (European United Left-Nordic Green left – GUE-NGL), Jean Lambert (Greens / European Free Alliance), Laurențiu Rebega (Europe of the Nations and Freedom – ENL) and Piernicola Pedicini (Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy – EFDD).
The election starts on Tuesday 17 January at 9.00 CET and is done using a secret ballot. MEPs mark their preferred candidate on a ballot paper and place the vote in a ballot box, overseen by eight tellers chosen from among MEPs.
A candidate getting an absolute majority of the votes cast (50% + 1) is elected. Blank or spoiled ballot papers are not counted.
If there is no winner after the first ballot, the same candidates or new candidates can be nominated for a second round of voting under the same conditions. This can be repeated a third time if necessary.
If no-one is elected at the third ballot, the two highest scoring candidates go to a fourth ballot, where the winner is decided by simple majority. If there is a tie, the older candidate is declared the winner.
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