European Parliament: "He shall lead the rebellion"

By JJB

This coming week, the new president of the European Parliament will be elected. However, the result is already considered official: European deputies will vote for Martin Schulz (Socialists&Democrats, Germany). In the meantime, Schulz is cultivating a rather revolutionary image, defying certain parliemantary traditions.

Ready to attack: According to his web page, Martin Schulz is "seeking confrontations with European Heads of Governments" http://tinyurl.com/6rok3qq

The European Parliament (EP) legislative period covers five years and includes a midterm-reelection for most important Parliament offices, such as the EP's president. In practice, this has been accompanied by informal agreements between the EP's major parties. One time, the Socialists&Democrats (S&D) would support the candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), and the next time it would be the other way around (or of course in a different order: first the EPP supports the S&D and afterwards the S&D votes for the EPP candidate). This way, both sides are sure to dispose of a large majority for their candidate during two and a half years.

Now, Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland) has reached the end of his mandate, and Martin Schulz (S&D, Germany) is going to take over. On his web page, Schulz cultivates quite a revolutionary image, affirming that he will make sure that the European Parliament, as the voice of democracy, will be heard on the EU-level. He insists that he wants the EP to be taken into account as a necessary means for the legitimacy of any executive action adopted by the member states - "I don't care whether that is written in the treaties or not!" (see for example here). He also criticises the way the member states proceed in order to solve the current crisis of the EU, finance and the economy (cf. for example here).

We will surely find out soon whether Martin Schulz will be able to live up to the ambitions he demonstrates. However, when facing this challenge, Schulz will be sure that he can count on the support of his party (and probably from other parties, too) : In December 2011, the S&D webpage posted an article, cited from a German newspaper, intitled "He shall lead the rebellion. Socialdemocrat Martin Schulz will soon be President of the European Parliament. Then, he will have to show what he is capable of". This is just one of many proofs of the numerous expectiations that Schulz will have to face.