Borrell vote gives 'legitimacy to guide EU parliament'

Newly elected European Parliament chief Josep Borrell’s decisive first round ballot victory is a “good sign for the institution”, the triumphant Socialist has said.

The first-time Spanish MEP – elected in June European elections – has come under fire for an arrangement dividing the parliament’s top jobs between left and right.

But in his first address after being elected by 388 of the assembly’s 732 MEPs, the Spaniard insisted that a comfortable margin of victory had given him the “legitimacy to guide parliament’s work”.

And he suggested that the “large and stable majority he had received was a good sign for the institution”.

Borrell thanked all who had supported him, especially MEPs from the Parliament’s Socialist group, which had nominated him.

Paying tribute to his predecessor Pat Cox’s “brilliant presidency”, Borrell said that the Irishman had raised parliament’s institutional profile, and that he had been active in representing all MEPs.

Borrell looked to placate his detractors and to show that he is keen to follow Cox’s high profile by promising to work closely with the parliament’s political leaders, and vowed to produce a statement on his long term plans in September.

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