EU parliament presidential election a ‘stitch up’

This Tuesday in Strasbourg three candidates are vying for the presidency of the European Parliament. The general expectation is that the centre-left leader Martin Schultz, already has the presidency in the bag.

Critics, including one of his election opponents Nirj Deva, a British conservative, have gone as far as saying the vote is a fix. He believes the method of choosing the EU parliament’s president must change.

“We have been stitching up the presidency of this parliament, which is representing 500 million people in the largest economy in the world, by doing barter deals —your turn, my turn — just like in Russia with what Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin have been doing,’‘ Deva said.

Liberal MEP Diana Wallis, another presidential runner who is standing as an independent, agreed with those calls for reform.

“It should be also a chance for us as a parliament to refresh and renew our ideas and really think about who we are and how we do things on this continent,” Wallis said.

Despite that criticism about back room deals between the parliament’s biggest parties, Martin Schulz told euronews he is the right man for the job.

‘‘I think that in this particular situation the European Parliament should be careful not to be pushed aside. In the framework of the EU institutions the Parliament should use its power enshrined in the Lisbon treaty. That’s why the Parliament needs a President who is ready to fight. I believe I’m the right person do this and that’s the reason why I’m standing.’‘

The winner will be the 14th president of the parliament since 1979.

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