Italian MEP Tajani elected new President of EU Parliament

Italian MEP Antonio Tajani

 ROME -- After the victory of the Italian MEP Antonio Tajani from the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament’s presidential election, the formal handover process began Wednesday.

 The conservative Italian politician Antonio Tajani, a former spokesman for Silvio Berlusconi, was elected Tuesday to be president of the European Parliament with 351 votes. He defeated his rival Italian socialist candidate Gianni Pittella, who obtained 282 votes.

 The formal handover process between the now former EU parliamentary President Martin Schulz and Tajani began Wednesday. “Just now [the Italian] President Mattarella phoned us and we talked about the new President’s agenda,” said the German former EU Parliament head Mr Schulz.

 Prior to the election, the EPP group and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) had signed a cooperation deal promoting the Italian MEP Tajani for the position of President in Strasbourg. ALDE’s liberal candidate Guy Vehofstadt retracted his candidacy last-minute.

 “Europe is in crisis -- a pro-European coalition is necessary. Because of this, PPE and ALDE, despite their ideological differences, have decided to work together closely and offer a common platform as a point of departure for this pro-EU cooperation,” read the text of the accord.

 “There will no longer be a big coalition, a privileged agreement between big groups, because we need clarity -- a clean and civil vision, which is something different to instability and paralysis,” had said the socialist candidate Gianni Pittella during his election speech.

 Pittella congratulated Tajani on his win and on the "rare" transparent election process, but maintained that the socialists would "constructively oppose" the "new conservative block."

 The head of the PPE group Manfred Weber said that “unfortunately Gianni Pittella and others have chosen battle, clashes and division -- they have built walls. PPE has tried to build bridges and this is the road we will pursue. Tajani will be the president of the whole chamber.”

 The election of Mr Tajani puts the centre-right in charge of the three main EU institutions -- the European Commission, Council and Parliament.

 Tajani is one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament. Before his current role, he was the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship and was also one of the vice-presidents of the European Commission.

 nkd