Schulz takes over from Buzek as EP chief

Buzek (left) with Schulz: photo - EPA/Patrick Seeger

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in a secret ballot this morning for the 56-year-old Schulz, who defeated Nirj Deva, a member of the right wing European Conservatives and Reformists faction and Diana Wallis, who belongs to the Liberals, the assembly’s third largest group.

Schulz won 387 of the 670 votes cast.

The position to lead the EP alternates between the two largest voting blocs – the centre-right European People’s Party and the Socialists – during a five year period, following an agreement between the two.

Many have contrasted the differences in personality of Shulz and Jerzy Buzek, the outgoing president and former prime minister of Poland.

Centre-right Polish Civic Platform MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, and a political ally of Buzek’s, said of Martin Schulz: “His is a strong personality and a very expressive leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament - sometimes an overly expressive leftist,” he said.

“The question is: how much will he be able to represent the whole of Parliament, and not just one faction,” Saryusz-Wolski added.

Conservative Polish MEP Konrad Szymanski of the Law and Justice party thinks Sculz is a bad choice to lead the EP.

“He is completely unsuited to perform this function, because during his political career in the European Parliament he has been a politician who has been extremely aggressive. Normally, in national parliaments, such a person is not promoted to such a high position. But here, it is part of an agreement,” Konrad Szymanski told Polish Radio.

Polish socialist MEP, Wojciech Olejniczak (SLD) said Schulz will be better than Buzek in the role.

“Martin Schulz is an experienced parliamentarian, Jerzy Buzek was a good president - Martin Schulz will be even better,” he told Polish Radio. (pg)