Martin Schultz, the leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, is expected to take the helm of the Brussels Chamber at the beginning of 2012.
The group, officially known as Socialists and Democrats, has unanimously endorsed the German’s MEPs candidacy for the top post in the EP.
Mr Schultz’s “likely” election comes as no surprise in view of an unofficial power sharing agreement in 2009 between the two biggest political groups in the EP, the European People’s Party and the S&D. According to this agreement, an EPP candidate, Polish MEP Jerzy Buzek, had to take the EP’s presidency for the first two-and-a-half years, followed by a Socialist MEP in the second half of the legislature. It has been an open secret in EP corridors that Mr Schultz was the Socialist MEP to be given the important job.
The election for the new EP president is expected to be held at the end of the year when all top positions will be up for grabs. However, Mr Schultz is likely to be the only candidate from the large political groups because both the Liberals and the Greens have said they had no intention to field candidates.
A former bookseller and an MEP since 1994, Mr Schultz rose to fame in 2003 following a heated exchange in the EP with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, then president of the European Council. He had harshly criticised Mr Berlusconi for his domestic policy with the latter replying by comparing the German MEP to a Nazi chief or kapo.
The skirmish had led to a diplomatic incident between the two countries. Mr Schultz had also managed to ruffle Labour’s feathers in Malta when in 2008, during the run-up of the Labour Party leadership battle, he made a surprise visit to the island to endorse the candidature of Joseph Muscat, then a Labour MEP.
Mr Schultz’s action was not taken lightly by the other four Labour leadership contenders, so much so that they had complained officially with the leadership of the Party of European Socialists in Brussels. In a joint letter of complaint, Evarist Bartolo, George Abela, Michael Falzon and Marie Louis Coleiro, had described Mr Schultz’s actions as “deeply offensive, totally irregular and highly unethical”.