
Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, was officially confirmed as the ‘common candidate’ of the Party of European Socialists during an election congress in Rome.
Schulz – the only candidate – was backed by 368 delegates in the Italian capital. Two delegates opposed Schulz and 34 abstained.
In his acceptance speech, Schulz set out his priorities should he become President of the European Commission. He highlighted that his first priority would be employment, a theme that is also prominent in the Socialist manifesto, also adopted in Rome.
The Congress welcomed the Italian Democratic Party (PD) as its newest member, with the moniker ‘Socialists and Democrats’ now added to the Party’s logo – possibly hinting that the parliamentary Socialists and Democrats Group, whose name was changed to reflect the inclusion of the PD, will revert to the ‘PES’ name after the elections.
Read our Storify of the PES Congress (storify.com) See our photos from the Congress (flickr.com)
PES manifesto (pes.eu) Martin Schulz’ speech (pes.eu) Martin Schulz campaign website
The election of Schulz as the Socialists’ common candidate means that the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is the only main party yet to officially name its candidate.
On Friday, Michel Barnier – the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services – joined the race, nominated by his own party (France’s Union for a Popular Movement) and backed by EPP member parties in Hungary and Slovenia.
Barnier will face the former prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker (also backed by parties in Germany and Greece), who is favourite to win the nomination, and former Latvian PM Valdis Dombrovskis, who is supported by parties in Estonia and Lithuania, as well as his own party.
EPP delegates will pick the party’s lead candidate in Dublin on Friday.
EPP Dublin Elections Congress website
The European Democratic Party, whose members include the Democratic Movement (MoDem) in France, adopted its manifesto and will chose its common candidate on 12 March.
EDP manifesto (pde-edp.eu)
A number of national parties also selected candidates for the European Parliament elections this weekend
(click the country name to go to the candidates list for that country):
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- Finland: the centre-right National Coalition Party (Kok) added Marjatta Rasin and Kai Pontisen to its list of candidates, while the Greens confirmed its list of candidates, adding former MEP and former minister Heidi Hautala to their roster.
- Estonia: the Reform Party of outgoing PM Andrus Ansip and Commission vice-president Siim Kallas chose its candidates, including Kallas’ daughter, Kaja Kallas. Like Finland, Estonia operates an ‘open list’ system.
- France: the centrist ‘Europeans’ – made up of MoDem and the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) – have provisionally chosen their heads of lists, with final confirmation due to come in the next ten days.
- Austria: both main parties confirmed their candidates: the Social Democrats (SPÖ) added a further five candidates to the original list of five headed by Eugen Freund, a former TV journalist and four current MEPs; the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) has four MEPs on its list, which is headed by Othmar Karas, a vice-president of the European Parliament; and Europe – Another Way (Europa Anders), a list composed of independents, Pirates, Communists and the left-wing Change party (Der Wandel), picked Martin Ehrenhauser MEP and Ulli Fuchs as lead candidates. Ehrenhauser, an independent, was elected on the Hans-Peter Martin list in 2009.
- Luxembourg: the Greens chose current MEP Claude Turmes to lead the party’s list.
- Czech Republic: the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), which has nine MEPs in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, chose Group vice-president Jan Zahradil as head of its list. The party – which is likely to return less than half of its current number of members – put current MEP and former party leadership contender Edvard Kožušník in tenth place.
- Portugal: the two main centre-right parties in the EPP, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Democratic and Social Centre – People’s Party (CDS-PP), agreed an electoral pact called ‘Portugal Alliance’. Under the agreement, the CDS-PP lead candidate, Nuno Melo MEP, will be in fourth place. The PSD’s Paulo Rangel MEP will lead the list.
- Italy: a Liberal list backing Guy Verhofstadt for the Commission presidency, and which will include the Civic Choice party of former prime minister Mario Monti, is expected to be named on Tuesday. Another list in the name of a Commission presidency candidate also named its first candidates. The ‘Tsipras List’ will back the European Left‘s candidate for the presidency, Alexis Tsipras.
- Spain: after a fractious debate with its many member groupings, the United Left (IU), which sits in the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group in the Parliament and is expected to dramatically increase its number of MEPs, chose Willy Meyer MEP to head its list. Ramon Tremosa i Balcells MEP, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Group, was named at the head of the list for the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia party.
- Belgium: the Flemish Socialist party (sp.a) confirmed Kathleen Van Brempt MEP and Saïd El-Khadraoui MEP at the head of its list and named the rest of its candidates.
- Poland: Europa Plus – Your Movement (EPTR), a centrist movement, named their full lists. With the party’s support up for grabs, a party rally was addressed by Guy Verhofstadt, signalling that any MEPs from the party may join the ALDE Group. The lists include current Socialists and Democrats Group MEP Marek Siwiec and a former member of the Group, Genowefa Grabowska, as well as a former President of Poland and co-founder of the list, Aleksander Kwaśniewski.
- Cyprus: the centre-right Democratic Rally (DISY) named its initial slate of candidates, including current EPP MEPs Andreas Pitsillides and Eleni Theocharous. Government spokesperson Christos Styliandes was also on the list and suggested that he may succeed Androulla Vassiliou as Cyprus’ nominee to the European Commission.
- Netherlands: the Party for the Animals named its provisional list of candidates.
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Read our lists of European Parliament candidates