The 14 designated Vice-Presidents of Parliament. The far right bypassed will not have an elected presidential seat

(B2) Following the election of its president David-Maria Sassoli, the European Parliament has appointed its 14 vice-presidents, 7 women, 7 men. Three rounds were necessary: ​​11 were elected in the first, 2 in the next, 1 in the third. The d'Hondt rule was slightly circumvented to avoid designating a representative of the far right

The need to avoid giving any visibility or important role to the extreme right and their recent excesses seems to have played on other considerations. If a vice-president does not really have any influence on the course of the political and legislative life of the Parliament, he has a very important symbolic role. A vice-president regularly chairs the plenary sessions of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, ensuring the distribution of the floor to the different groups. He also represents this authority abroad, notably during visits abroad. The First Vice-President may replace the President of the European Parliament in certain ceremonies or bodies when the latter is unable to attend.

Vice Presidents

The distribution follows the political logic of the Parliament, with a sharing of positions between the four parties of the parliamentary majority (European People's Party, Social and Democrats, Centristres of Renew Europe and Ecologists), in a manner almost proportional to their numerical importance. With one exception: the I&D group (Identity and Democracy) did not obtain any elected representatives in favor of the GUE and the Non-affiliated (see below).

Five EPP Christian Democrat vice-presidents:

• the Irish Mairead McGUINNESS (618 votes, 1st round), 1st vice-president;
• the German Rainer WIELAND (516 votes, 1st round);
• the Austrian Othmar KARAS (477 votes, 1st round);
• the Polish Ewa Bożena KOPACZ, former Prime Minister (PO, 461 votes, 1st round);
• the Hungarian Lívia JÁRÓKA (349 votes, 1st round).

Three Social Democratic (S&D) Vice-Presidents:

• the Portuguese Pedro SILVA PEREIRA (556 votes, 1st round);
• the German Katarina BARLEY (516 votes, 1st round);
• the Hungarian Klara DOBREV (402 votes, 1st round).

Two centrist liberal (RE) vice-presidents:

• the Czech Dita CHARANZOVÁ (395 votes, 1st round);
• the German Nicola BEER (363 votes, 1st round).

Two Green Vice-Presidents (Greens/EFA):

• Finland's Heidi HAUTALA (336 votes, 1st round);
• the Czech Marcel KOLAJA, member of the Pirate party (426 votes, 2nd round).

A left-wing vice-president (GUE):

• the Greek Dimitrios PAPADIMOULIS (401 votes, 2nd round).

A non-registered vice-president of the 5 Star Movement (formerly EFDD), elected in the 3rd round:

• the Italian Fabio Massimo CASTALDO (248 votes, 3rd round)

No far-right candidate

The nationalist candidates from the I&D group — Laura HUHTASAARI (True Finns) and Mara BIZZOTTO (Northern League) — were not elected. They certainly managed to federate votes beyond their group, respectively collecting 135 votes and 130 votes in the first round, 142 votes in the second for Mara BIZZOTTO. But the score remains insufficient to have a representative at the rostrum of Parliament. The 'sanitary cordon' put in place by the other groups in Parliament therefore held.

An exception to the d'Hondt rule for GUE and Non-Registered

The d'Hondt rule (proportional allocation of positions) was not fully respected. Instead of the seats that could have been won by the far right, a Greek from Syriza (United European Left) was elected (in the second round) as well as an Italian from Luigi Di Maio's party.

A 5 star elected

A leader of the 5-Star Movement in the European Parliament managed to be elected, crossing the threshold of the third round, collecting the sufficient score of 284 votes. This had not been the case under the previous legislature. The candidate of the conservative group (ECR), the Pole of the PiS, Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI failed, winning only 261 votes in the second round. In 2014, it was an almost symmetrically opposite situation: the Pole of the PiS, Ryszard CZARNECKI, belonging to the conservative group (ECR), had been elected by 284 votes in the 3rd round at the expense of the Italian '5 Stars', who was already Fabio Massimo Castalado (EFDD).

Germanic and Eastern domination and parity

As for nationalities, we can note three Germans and 1 Austrian, and five MEPs from the East (2 Hungarians, 2 Czechs, 1 Pole). No Frenchman and no Belgian was elected (nor had presented himself). This no doubt testifies to a certain will on the part of these groups. Finally, note that the gender balance is strictly respected with 7 women and 7 men.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Download the press release from Parliament on the election of vice presidents