Spanish eyes on EU parliament presidency

By Brian Johnson - 18th July 2004

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First-time Spanish Socialist MEP Josep Borrell looks set to become the new president of the European Parliament.

MEPs will vote on Tuesday for the next ‘speaker’, guardian of procedure and representative of parliament in a secret ballot.

Borrell who secured the socialist nomination, beating UK MEP Terry Wynn, is relatively unknown in Brussels circles and his nomination ruffled a few feathers within the socialist group.

Parliament’s two largest groups, the centre-right European People’s party and the socialists hope to divide the five year presidency term between them.

But many MEPs are unhappy with the political horse-trading between parliament’s two biggest power blocs that has projected Borrell, an MEP novice, to the top of the political pile.

Under a recently agreed ‘technical agreement’ Borrell will officiate for the first half of the five-year presidency term, then hand over to EPP group leader Hans-Gert Pöttering for the second half.

Liberal group leader Graham Watson denounced the political deal as a stitch up.

“We want an open, transparent election which enables MEPs to choose the best possible person to be our president”, said Watson last week.

Green group leader, Danny Cohn-Bendit is calling on MEPs to back the Liberal candidate, former Polish foreign minister and founding member of the solidarity trade union, Bronislaw Geremek.

“Geremek is our history, he’s a symbol of Europe’s freedom”, said Cohn-Bendit, referring to the former dissident’s credentials.

Blasting the agreement, Geremek accused the two main parties of being undemocratic.

“I have my doubts whether it is in the spirit of democracy to settle through an agreement between the two main parties the distribution of the main offices,” he said.

But with a deal already struck between the socialists and the centre right, Geremek’s chances are slim. The two main groups account for around 450 of parliament’s 732 MEPS.

Francis Wurtz, the communist EUL/NGL group chairman is also standing as a candidate.

Borrell is best known for his work on the European Convention, where he strongly opposed any reference to Christian values in the EU constitution.

“Many of our values were forged against the church and when it comes to democracy, the rights of man and equality, God is only a recent convert”, he said.

But MEPs will vote in a secret ballot on Tuesday, with up to four rounds of voting. If elected, Borrell will complete an Iberian cartel of top EU posts, joining Portuguese Commission president José Durao Barroso.