All posts tagged Martin Schulz

Six months away from the European Parliament elections, the first serious set of predictions are being made.

Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute, a Paris-based think-tank, has recently published a must-read policy paper in which it predicts that the centre-left Socialists & Democrats Group (S&D) will oust the centre-right European People’s Party Group (EPP) as the largest group in the new Parliament.

And in February, Burson-Marsteller Brussels will support the launch – as part of Europe Decides – of PollWatch, a VoteWatch Europe project that will take an in-depth and regular look at opinion polls and the likely composition of the new assembly.

However, the election results are only part of the story. Post-election horse-trading and haggling plays a key role in determining the final composition of the groups and – significantly this time – the creation of a majority to back the appointment of a new President of the European Commission.

Political positioning and the distribution of key roles (such as committee chairs or group spokespeople) may help sway the decisions of national party delegations on where to sit.

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Two months after the European Parliament launched its elections information campaign, genuine online political campaigning and debate around the polls is beginning to gather pace.

Since 17 October we have – using social media tracking tool Keyhole – monitored 14,360 posts by 7,960 users on the European elections. As explained in a previous post, these tweets and Facebook messages – which have the collective potential to reach nearly 24 million accounts – will not include every single post on the 2014 elections, but nonetheless cover a sizeable chunk of the online debate.

Whether this figure is high or low depends on your perception: it is low in terms of the overall European electorate (around 380 million people), but the elections are still more than six months away. These numbers can be expected to grow considerably, and this current audience is a signal of the potential reach of social media campaigning.

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 8 November 2013

Top stories: 1-8 November 2013

  • Schulz named ‘candidate designate’ for Commission post: Unopposed in the selection procedure, the European Party of Socialists (PES) nominated the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, as its ‘candidate-designate’ for the position of President European Commission President. His candidacy should be ratified at the end of February. EurActiv; Financial Times; EU Observer; Euronews; Europe Online; New Europe; Europolitics; Policy Network; Press Europ; Kuna; New Europe; The Guardian PES
  • Bové, Frassoni, Harms and Keller to contest Green primary: On 7 November, the second internal support phase of the European Green Party primary closed. The four people who will contest the vote to be the Green’s two ‘common candidates’ to be Commission President are José Bové MEP, former European Parliament Green Group leader Monica Frassoni, current Green Group leader Rebecca Harms MEP, and Ska Keller MEP. The online Green primary begins on 10 November, with any European aged 16 years or older allowed to vote in the primary, which closes on 28 January. European Greens; YouTube
  • EU must unite against sceptics and populists, says Italian prime minister: Enrico Letta fears next year’s European elections will lead to the “most anti-European parliament in history”. For arguably the first time, said Letta, he and others in Europe would be looking closely at the results in Britain in May to see how Ukip performs. The Italian PM said success for Nigel Farage’s party would have very negative effects on the debate about Britain’s exit from the EU, adding an appeal to pro-European forces to stand together and vigorously oppose the rise of populist parties and movements in the EU. The Guardian; World Socialist Web Site

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Elections of the new President of the Parliament

Read our Storify summary of Martin Schulz’s press conference

It’s official: Martin Schulz, the current President of the European Parliament, is the only nominee to be the common candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PES) at the next European Parliament elections. A year from now, he could be President of the European Commission.

But what about his current job?

As the Parliament has told us in its awareness-raising campaign, ‘this time it’s different’. We have never had ‘common candidates’ before, with (the European political parties hope) a Europe-wide profile.

Presidents of the Parliament have campaigned in elections before, but usually to be returned as an MEP. Schulz will stand as an MEP, and is certain to be returned. But being a ‘common candidate’ is a different issue.

So how does Martin Schulz handle being the current President of the Parliament and a candidate to be President of the Commission?

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According to German news magazine Der Spiegel, Angela Merkel is understood to informally support Martin Schulz‘s bid to be the next President of the European Commission.

According to the article she is prepared to offer informal support and sees Schulz as someone with whom she can work should the Party of European Socialists (PES) win the European Parliament elections. The article also indicates that Merkel wishes to strengthen the Commission’s powers and so would like to have someone at the head of the body with whom she has a good working relationship.

Der Spiegel adds that Merkel hopes Schulz will help ensure a more social approach to dealing with the crisis and thereby help Merkel to be seen as a more pro-European leader.

Her support of Martin Schulz is also used to explain her hesitation against nominating a common candidate for the European People’s Party.

The print edition of Der Spiegel is published today and the online version of the article (in English) is available here.

DE-primeMartin Schulz

Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 11 October 2013

Top stories: 5-11 October 2013

  • EPP founding father Wilfried Martens dies: The former Belgian prime minister and President of the European People’s Party, Wilfried Martens, passed away during the night of 9 October. He was 77 years old. Martens had handed over his duties as EPP leader to Joseph Daul, EPP Group chair, on 8 October, due to his deteriorating health. He will receive a state funeral on Saturday 19 October in the Saint Bavo cathedral in Ghent. The Parliament.com; EU Business; New Europe; EurActiv; European Voice; EPP; ALDE Group; ALDE; PES; European Greens; AECR; Statement by Herman Van Rompuy
  • Socialists & Democrats endorse Schulz’s application as candidate for Commission presidency: On 9 October the S&D Group endorsed the application of European Parliament president Martin Schulz to be the Party of European Socialists’ candidate to be European Commission president. Schulz has been nominated by his German party, the SPD, and backed by the French Socialist Party and the S&D group. S&D; Europolitics
  • Polls in France suggest victory for far right: France’s National Front party has come out top in a poll of how French voters intend to cast their ballot in next year’s EU elections. The magazine that carried out the survey, Le Nouvel Observateur, remarks that the poll is “of course not a prediction. But it describes a new reality in French political life.” EU Observer; EurActiv; Telegraph; The Corner; Euronews; The Guardian

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 4 October 2013

Top stories: 28 September to 4 October 2013

  • PES opens nominations for ‘Common Candidate’ selection for next year’s European elections: On 1 October the Party of European Socialists (PES) officially opened the process to accept nominations for the position of candidate for Commission President, ahead of the European elections. The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, is the clear favourite. The nomination period will be open until 31 October. PES; Europolitics; Euractiv
  • Frattini puts himself forward for Nato chief post: Franco Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister, has said he is a candidate to be the next Nato chief. In a Le Monde interview, Frattini said his experience dealing with security issues when he was EU commissioner, as well as the fact that he comes from a Mediterranean region country, make him a leading candidate for the job. EUObserver

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The Party of European Socialists (PES) announced today the opening of a process of nominations to be the ‘common candidate’ of the Party for the European Parliament elections. This candidate would then be put forward as the PES candidate for the European Commission President.

In a statement, the PES said that the nominations process – which will last until the end of October – “is designed to meet the many demands for a more democratic and transparent way to designate key European Union posts. It is also hoped that it will increase interest in the election”.

According to the Party, each nominee needs to be supported by 15% of PES full member parties or organisations (at least one nominating the candidate, plus five other supporters). The PES Presidency will hold a meeting on 6 November to verify the process and announce the nominee(s), with the candidate being selected at the PES Election Congress in February 2014. The PES manifesto will be adopted at the same meeting.

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Simon HixThe European Parliament elections in May 2014 may be the first genuinely ‘European’ elections.

This might seem an odd claim, given that the Parliament has been elected every five years since 1979.  Until now, though, ‘Europe’ has actually played a minor role in these contests.  As mid-term contests in national election cycles, European Parliament elections have been dominated by national politicians and parties rather than by European-level politicians and parties or the future direction of the European Union.

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