The current President of the European Parliament Roberta Mezzola (European People's Party) and Irene Montero, proposed by the "Left" parliamentary group, are the two candidates for the next head of the institution. This was announced by the speakers of the EP an hour before the start of the secret voting of the MEPs, who are gathering today for their first session in Strasbourg after the elections in June. The deadline for submission of applications expired last night, as quoted by BTA.
Voting today is expected to last about 30 minutes, and the counting of votes – about 15 minutes. It is possible that the chairman will not be determined by the first vote. After the EP has a new president, the MEPs will proceed to determine his 14 deputies. The five new quaestors of the EP are scheduled to be voted in tomorrow.
On Thursday, MEPs will listen to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, proposed by the European Council for a second term. Von der Leyen will present the guidelines for the commission's work in the next five years. In the afternoon, MEPs will vote again in secret, with 361 votes needed for a successful election. If von der Leyen does not get the necessary support, the European Council will have a month to present a new proposal for the head of the EC.
From tomorrow's agenda, the debate devoted to the last meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU countries is dropped, the spokesperson specified. According to him, the reason is that the President of the European Council Charles Michel was not able to attend. According to the speaker, the agenda does not yet include a hearing with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whose country took over the presidency of the Council of the EU from July 1, as there is not enough time left in the schedule. He noted that the new leadership of the EP will determine the agenda for the next session in September.