All posts tagged François Hollande

30
Jan

SYRIZA’s historic win gives Europe’s leaders a headache

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This was more than just an ordinary national election – it was one that signalled a new chapter in the eurozone crisis and a challenge, by the people of Greece, to austerity.

The victory by the radical left-wing party, SYRIZA, and its leader, Alexis Tsipras, was expected. However, the scale of the win was larger than predicted in pre-election opinion polls, bringing the party to the brink of an outright parliamentary majority.

SYRIZA won 36.34 per cent of the vote and 149 seats in the 300-seat Greek Parliament. New Democracy (ND), the centre-right party that had led the previous coalition government, won 27.81 per cent and 76 seats.

The far-right ultranationalist Golden Dawn party came third, with 6.28 per cent and 17 seats, the same number of positions held by The River (To Potami), a centre-left grouping formed in 2014. The Communists (KKE) won 15 seats while the conservative Independent Greeks (ANEL) took 13 seats, the same as the Socialists (PASOK), who bore the brunt of the rejection of the outgoing coalition government.

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06
Jun

Europe Decides Weekly – 6 June

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 6 June 2014

Top stories: 31 May to 6 June 2014

  • Merkel backs Juncker but EU member states still at odds: National leaders are still discussing who should lead the new European Commission following the European elections. While the EPP Group is the strongest in the Parliament, it is still unclear as to whether the EPP candidate for Commission presidency, Jean-Claude Juncker, will be nominated by member states, after several of them expressed misgivings about his appointment. The UK’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, has allegedly indirectly threatened British exit from the EU should Juncker become President, telling Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, that the move may force him to bring forward his planned referendum on EU membership. Meanwhile, Juncker has received support from the rival candidate of the European Socialists, Martin Schulz, and Greek left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras. They say that the EPP’s win in the elections means Juncker should be first in line to attempt to win a majority. EurActiv; Gulf News; New Europe; EUObserver; European Voice; Guardian; Euronews; Tagesschau; FAZ; Bloomberg; Irish Times; KTVL news; Deutsche Welle; Europolitics; Sunday Times; Twitter
  • Leaders and contenders consider Juncker alternatives: With question marks hanging over the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel has reportedly asked French President François Hollande whether he would consider nominating the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, to be the next President of the European Commission. French sources say that Hollande did not support the idea. Also in France, the name of Michel Barnier, who Juncker defeated to the EPP nomination, still circulates as a possible compromise candidate. Meanwhile Olli Rehn’s expected departure to the European Parliament is likely to see Finland’s current Prime Minister, Jyrki Katainen, head to Brussels as a commissioner. He is also under consideration as a possible successor to José Manuel Barroso, although Katainen is still backing Juncker’s candidacy. EurActiv; Reuters; Le Monde
  • Le Pen and Farage compete to attract MEPs as ECR numbers surge: Despite his victory in Britain’s European Parliament election, the leader of the UK Independence Party (Ukip), Nigel Farage is struggling to secure the existence of his Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. Farage is being squeezed by France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, who is trying to cobble together a far-right group called the ‘European Alliance for Freedom’ and has already wooed Italy’s Northern League away from the EFD, and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group. The ECR this week added ten members (going to 55 MEPs), including former members from the Danish People’s Party and the Finns, both parties having been previously aligned to the EFD. Slovakian, German and Greek members also joined the ECR, with decisions pending on Bulgaria Without Censorship and the Alternative for Germany (whose admission to the group of David Cameron’s Conservatives could anger Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, at a sensitive time in negotiations on the Commission presidency). Meanwhile Farage is trying to forge links with Italy’s Five Star Movement, but risks not having enough nationalities to re-form the EFD. European Voice; EUObserver; Novinite; Europe Decides; Twitter; Reuters; EurActiv

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16
May

Europe Decides Weekly – 16 May

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 9 May 2014

Top stories: 9-16 May 2014

  • Live TV debate with candidates for next Commission President: A final TV debate with the European parties’ candidates for the presidency of the European Commission took place on 15 May in the European Parliament. The ‘Eurovision Debate’ featured Jean-Claude Juncker (centre-right), Martin Schulz (Socialists), Guy Verhofstadt (Liberals), Ska Keller (Greens) and Alexis Tsipras (radical left). The contenders clashed over a number of topics ranging from the economy, including the impact of austerity measures, to Russia and Ukraine, immigration and religious symbols. The debate was broadcast on 58 national and regional TV channels and web-streamed on 71 websites across EU member states. Europolitics; EurActiv; European Voice; EUobserver; New Europe
  • Latest survey shows gap closing between EPP and Socialists: The latest PollWatch 2014 predictions show that the gap between the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats Group (S&D) is narrowing. With less than a week to go before the polls open, the EPP is predicted to gain 212 seats, with the S&D close behind on 209. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) remain on 63 seats, while the radical left European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) has improved slightly and would now find itself with 52 seats. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group lead the rest of the chasing pack, with 43 seats. PollWatch 2014; Europe Decides; Reuters
  • Merkel and Hollande discuss Commission President: The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French President, François Hollande, met in Germany last weekend to discuss several EU-related issues, including the choice of a new Commission president. Merkel said that it will take several weeks following the European elections to reach a decision, amid talk of her and other EU leaders wanting to consider candidates other than the lead candidates of the pan-European parties. The EPP lead candidate, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said that Merkel gave him a firm signal that he will become the next Commission president if the centre-right wins the election, but the leader of the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, criticised the Chancellor for reportedly trying to prevent the Parliament’s President (and Socialist lead candidate), Martin Schulz, from chairing the assembly’s post-election review meeting. Swoboda said Merkel is only one of the 28 leaders in the European Council and should stop interfering in parliamentary business. EurActiv; Reuters; Chicago Tribune; Europolitics; S&D news; EUObserver

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09
May

Europe Decides Weekly – 9 May

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 9 May 2014

Top stories: 1-9 May 2014

  • EPP extends lead as smaller groups scramble for seats: The latest PollWatch 2014 puts the European People’s Party (EPP) in an 11-seat lead over the Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The EPP’s projected haul of 216 seats re-opens the gap with the S&D, who had looked to be narrowing the difference between the two parties in previous forecasts. The Green, Conservative and Eurosceptic groups are in a tight battle for fifth place behind the Liberals (63 seats) and radical left (which fell under the 50-seat mark for the first time in a PollWatch 2014 prediction). PollWatch 2014; Europe Decides
  • Slovenia PM Bratušek formally resigns, urges snap election: Slovenia’s Prime Minister, Alenka Bratušek, handed in her resignation on Monday 5 May and called for an early election to be held in June. She said it would be the best way out of the political crisis, which was triggered by her removal as leader of Positive Slovenia by the party’s founder. Meanwhile, ex-PM and current opposition leader Janez Janša was sentenced to two years in prison for bribery related to a 2006 arms deal. Janša’s conviction, delivered last June, was upheld by an appeal court. New Europe; EUObserver; Bloomberg; Reuters; Daily Journal; Washington Post; EurActiv
  • Oettinger frontrunner as next German Commission nominee: The Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, is set to be named as Germany’s nominee to the European Commission for a second time, according to a report in Der Spiegel. Since the German Social Democrats (SPD) are expected to lose support in the European election, it is reported that the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will send a Christian Democrat to the Commission. Oettinger’s only competitor for the post is reported to be David McAllister, former prime minister of Lower Saxony and lead candidate for Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). Der Spiegel

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04
Apr

Europe Decides Weekly – 4 April

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 4 April 2014

Top stories: 29 March to 4 April 2014

  • Six commissioners take leave to run in European elections: The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso has announced that seven commissioners will stand in the European Parliament elections. Viviane Reding, Antonio Tajani, Maroš Šefčovič, Olli Rehn, Janusz Lewandowski and Neven Mimica will all go on leave this month, while Karel De Gucht will be a candidate but remain in post as he will not be actively campaigning and will not take up his seat in the Parliament if elected. Barroso also announced arrangements for other commissioners to cover the portfolios of the six members going on leave. EurActiv; Europolitics; EUObserver; Europe Online Magazine; European Voice; RTT News; Reuters
  • Moscovici tipped to be European commissioner: Pierre Moscovici, who lost his job as France’s finance minister in this week’s reshuffle, is strongly rumoured to be France’s next nominee to the European Commission. Other prospective nominees who have official backing are Andrus Ansip (Estonia), Neven Mimica (Croatia), Maroš Šefčovič (Slovakia), and Karmenu Vella (Malta). The appointment of Vella, formerly tourism minister, follows a government reshuffle prompted by the nomination of Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca as Malta’s next president. EurActiv; European Voice; Europe Decides
  • Poll puts socialists and centre-right in dead heat: The latest PollWatch 2014 predictions put the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) both on 212 seats with 50 days until the European elections. The Liberals remain third, on 62 seats, seven ahead of the radical left. EUObserver; European Voice; Europe Decides

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31
Mar

Weekend round-up: Hollande rings the changes after poll defeat

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François Hollande, President of the French Republic, Angela Merkel, German Federal Chancellor, Enda Kenny, Irish Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, Greek Prime Minister and President in office of the Council of the EU, and Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese Prime Minister (from left to right)The President of France, François Hollande (pictured), has reshuffled the government after a crushing defeat for the Socialists in local elections.

Meanwhile there have been changes in two other governments over the past few days, with 34-year old Taavi Rõivas becoming Estonia’s Prime Minister and Malta’s premier, Joseph Muscat, reshuffling his team and proposing Malta’s nominee to the next European Commission.

Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s former prime minister, was named as the next Nato secretary-general, and candidate selections for May’s European Parliament elections continued.

Read our lists of European Parliament candidates

Here’s our overview of the latest news in Europe’s year of change:

François Hollande has reacted to the Socialists’ defeat in the second round of local elections by, as expected, dismissing the government headed by Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Ayrault’s successor is Manuel Valls, the Barcelona-born current interior minister. Much as with former president Nicolas Sarkozy in the same role, Valls’ hardline approach to law and order has proved popular with the electorate. However, his position on the right of the Socialist Party means he is treated with suspicion by some of his comrades.

A full government reshuffle is expected, with outgoing ministers – expected to include Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister – likely to be contenders for France’s nomination to the European Commission.

In the elections themselves, the Socialists lost more than 150 towns to the centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), while the far-right National Front won control 11 town halls. Turnout, at 62%, was the lowest ever for a French local election.

The one bright spot for the Socialists was the victory of Anne Hidalgo in Paris. She becomes the capital’s first female mayor.

Meanwhile in Malta the Prime Minister, Labour‘s Joseph Muscat, carried out a reshuffle prompted by the swearing-in this week of Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca as the country’s first female president.

As part of the changes, Karmenu Vella, the tourism minister, was named as the country’s proposed nominee to the next European Commission. Vella joins three other men who are (near-)certain nominees to the next Commission: Maroš Šefčovič, the Slovakian European Commission Vice-President for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration; Neven Mimica, the Croatian European Commissioner for Consumer Protection; and Andrus Ansip, the former Estonian prime minister.

Read our lists of potential nominees to the European Commission

Ansip’s successor in Estonia was also confirmed in his post last week: at 34 years old, Taavi Rõivas becomes the EU’s youngest head of government, leading a Liberal-Social Democratic coalition.

In Slovakia, the Prime Minister, Robert Fico, was defeated by 60% to 40% in the run-off for the (largely ceremonial) post of President. Millionaire businessman Andrej Kiska won the post in a result thought to reflect fears that the Social Democrats would take too much power.

On Friday the first of the ‘top jobs’ in Europe’s year of change was given to Jens Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister. He will succeed Anders Fogh Rasmussen as Secretary-General of Nato on 1 October. 

Stoltenberg, aged 55, was Norway’s PM from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2013. He is currently leader of the Norwegian Labour Party. In his time as prime minister he increased Norway’s defence spending and provided Norwegian forces for many Nato missions. His first key test will be to manage the frosty relations between the West and Russia over Ukraine.

The appointment of Stoltenberg makes the 2014 ‘jigsaw’ a little less complicated, in that Norway’s position outside the EU means that the Nato choice will not normally affect the balance of nationalities needed for the top jobs in Europe.

However, some of those who missed out – such as Belgium’s defence minister, Pieter De Crem, and Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski – may be more focused on other key roles now that the Nato job has gone elsewhere.

The weekend also saw another newspaper article that suggests the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, would favour the Danish premier, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, for the Commission presidency, should the Left top May’s polls.

Candidate selections for the European Parliament elections continued this weekend. Some of the highlights come from:

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Austria: Angelika Werthmann MEP, an independent sitting in the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group, was named as second on the list for the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), the Eurosceptic populist party founded by Jörg Haider. Werthmann, who follows Haider’s daughter, Ulrike Haider-Quercia, on the list, is likely to be expelled from the ALDE Group this week,

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Belgium: Both the Flemish Liberals (OpenVLD) and their Francophone counterparts, the Reformist Movement (MR), confirmed their lists, headed by ALDE Party lead candidate Guy Verhofstadt and former European commissioner Louis Michel respectively.

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Croatia: The Partnership of the Croatian Centre named the candidates on its four-party list, including former prime minister Jadranka Kosor. The Croatian Labourists, who sit in the radical left GUE/NGL Group, also named their list, headed by Nikola Vuljanić MEP.

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Cyprus: Democratic Rally, affiliated to the European People’s Party, confirmed its list of candidates. A professor at the University of Cyprus, Stavros Zenios, tops the list.

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Estonia: The Social Democrats named a list that includes current MEP Ivari Padar and former member Marianne Mikko. Meanwhile the Reform Party (ALDE Party) named Andrus Ansip on the party’s list. The former prime minister is expected to be the country’s next nominee to the European Commission.

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Greece: The Olive Tree alliance – a centre-left grouping including the Socialists, PASOK, confirmed their candidates. The list includes one MEP (Sylvana Rapti). 35% of the candidates are women and 30% are under 40 years old.

 

28
Mar

Europe Decides Weekly – 28 March

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Read more in Europe Decides Weekly, 28 March 2014

Top stories: 22-28 March 2014

  • France’s far-right make gains as voters punish Hollande: France’s National Front scored well in France’s municipal elections, even winning one mayoralty the first round of voting. The Socialist Party of France’s President, François Hollande, saw its share of the vote fall and is set to lose control of some major towns in Sunday’s second round. Despite the Socialists’ defeat, the government will stick to its planned economic reforms and spending cuts. However, Hollande is expected to reshuffle his team – including possibly replacing the Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault – in the coming weeks. New Europe; Reuters; New York Times; Telegraph; Guardian; Wall Street Journal; BBC News; Financial Times; Economist; ABC News; Policy Network; Digital Journal; Le Figaro
  • Maastricht to host First European Presidential Debate on 28 April: The ‘First European Presidential Debate’ will take place in Maastricht on Monday 28 April, featuring the lead candidates of the main European parties. The event will be hosted by the City of Maastricht, the University of Maastricht and the European Youth Forum. Euronews will broadcast the event live. Burson-Marsteller/Europe Decides is a partner of the project, organising an event in Brussels to coincide with the debate. European Youth Forum
  • Wilders’ party loses members after remarks about Moroccans: Several leading politicians from the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) have quit the party following an incident in which the party leader, Geert Wilders, asked supporters at a post-local election event “Do you want more or fewer Moroccans in this city and this country?”, with supporters responding “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!” Laurence Stassen MEP, the PVV delegation leader in the European Parliament, was one of the most high-profile members to quit. EurActiv; Reuters; DutchNews

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10
Feb

100 days to go, 100 things to know about Europe’s year of change

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At 07:00 CET on Tuesday 11 February, there was exactly 100 days to go to the opening of the polls for the European Parliament elections.

As the countdown to the elections intensifies, here is our overview of where we stand:

Top jobs | European Parliament election candidates | European Parliament election opinion polls | Processes and procedures for the elections and beyond | Potential nominees to the European Commission | Online conversations | Also on Europe Decides

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07
Jan

Spoilt for choice – but who will Hollande go for?

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While most people involved in French politics see March’s municipal elections as the key test of opinion in the coming months, the race for positions in the European Parliament and the European Commission is hotting up.

The procedure for selecting candidates for the European Parliament elections has already been a difficult one, and seems set to continue.

After the European elections, the French President, François Hollande (pictured left), faces his own big choice – who to send to Brussels as France’s next nominee for a position in the European Commission.

The choice of person will depend much on the political situation that Hollande finds himself in, needing to balance the desire for strong French representation with other factors, such as keeping key figures in his Socialist Party (PS) happy.

Read our full profiles of the potential nominees for the Commission from France

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20
Dec

Plus ça change… internal battles mark French parties’ MEP selections

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Every French political party is naming its candidates for the European Parliament elections – but most seem fixated on in-fighting rather than battling for voters’ support.

This is nothing new: in 2009, Gilles Savary, a Socialist Party (PS) MEP who had been in the European Parliament for ten years, was booted off the PS list in favour of Vincent Peillon (now France’s Education Minister).

However, this time the political scheming in the main parties could be more damaging: the far-right National Front (FN) is set to win nearly a quarter of the vote according to a recent poll, and will happily to see the other parties tear themselves apart.

See our lists of French candidates for the European Parliament election

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