German Socialist Barley backpedals on rumoured bid for EU Parliament presidency

5 months ago 20

Katarina Barley, the lead candidate for Germany’s social democrats in the European elections, denied on Monday having immediate ambitions to take on the role of European Parliament president in the second half of its mandate following her party’s disastrous result in Germany.

Several sources have confirmed that Parliament President Roberta Metsola (EPP) is all but certain to clinch a second term, but Barley’s name also circulated in Brussels as the favourite to take over for the Socialists in the second half of the five-year term, in line with the usual practice. Barley is currently a vice-president of the EU Parliament.

Barley’s SPD party will make taking over the Parliament presidency a target in upcoming negotiations on the division of EU top jobs, German media reported on Monday (10 June).

However, when asked by reporters, Barley appeared to backpedal, saying her priority is to understand the election results and draw the consequences, after the SPD’s all-time low national vote share in Sunday’s European election.

“I am not at all preoccupied with my own ambitions at the moment. At the moment, I am busy trying to understand what happened [in this election]. (…) I am currently not wasting a thought on [the presidency]. This [result] really hit home,” she said in Berlin.

The SPD’s position within the S&D group was severely weakened after the election, as it is projected to drop from being the second-largest delegation to third place, behind the Italian PD and the Spanish PSOE.

“We have no ambitions to discuss this question [about the presidency],” Barley said, while not fully closing the door on the option in the future.

S&D to hold off on naming candidate

However, the new situation, it is unlikely that the S&D group, the second-largest in the Parliament after the centre-right EPP, will present a name for Metsola’s successor until the end of her likely second term in two-and-a-half years, a source close to the Parliament told Euractiv.

Usually, the two two-and-a-half-year terms are decided as part of a package deal on several top jobs – including parliamentary support for the Commission president at the start of the legislature – between the most powerful parliamentary groups, including the EPP and the S&D.

In principle, Barley was optimistic that the S&D would be able to strike such a deal with the EPP and liberal Renew Europe, which would include support for a new mandate for EPP Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

She justified this by pointing out that the EPP appeared to distance itself from the idea of seeking support from far-right parties.

“I understood yesterday that [EPP chief] Manfred Weber strives to secure a democratic centre majority and we are available for talks on that,” Barley said.

[Edited by Aurélie Pugnet/Zoran Radosavljevic]