Antonio Tajani of Italy on Tuesday was elected president of the European Parliament, consolidating a conservative grip on key EU institutions as the mainstream right and left struggle to unite against euroskeptics.
The new speaker, a 63-year-old former EU commissioner and ally of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, relied for his victory on support from the ruling conservative parties of Britain and Poland, which are sharply critical of the EU.
They argue that the EU impinges on national sovereignty, and see it as bureaucratic and wasteful. To get their final backing, Tajani issued a statement saying solutions to the EU’s problems “are not found in more and more Europe,” an unusual remark for a president of an institution that has traditionally been a bulwark of EU integration, but he also said solutions are not to be found in blowing up the EU project.
Photo: AP
Tajani, a former journalist, succeeds Germany’s Martin Schulz at a time of crisis for the EU.
Britain wants a divorce deal that needs the legislature’s blessing, while old adversary Russia and old ally the US both pose new threats to EU survivors holding together.
Schulz closely cooperated with the center-right EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, but his tenure ended with recriminations over the end of a decade-long left-right grand coalition.
That could spell trouble for the smooth passage of EU laws on a range of issues and has been seen as giving a potentially greater voice to euroskeptics bolstered by Britain’s vote last year to quit the EU.
The new coalition running the legislature will rely on an awkward alliance between skeptic conservatives and pro-EU center-right and liberal lawmakers.
In what was seen as a further concession to British conservatives, Guy Verhofstadt, the negotiator on Brexit, is to be flanked by more powerful parliament committees in the talks, Tajani said.
Parliament has to sign off on the exit deal with Britain, probably by late next year or early 2019, just as lawmakers are campaigning for an EU-wide legislative election in May 2019.
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