MEPs will vote today to choose the next president of the European Parliament, an increasingly important EU post at the head of an assembly that will have a veto over any future Brexit deal.
Martin Schulz, the current president and a Socialist, is standing down to pursue a career in German politics.
The contest is a crowded field of three Italians, two Belgians, a Romanian and, despite Brexit, a British Green MEP called Jean Lambert.
Two men, both Italians, lead the race, in a contest between the parliament’s biggest political groupings, the conservative European People’s Party (EPP) and the Socialists. At a time of growing Euroscepticism, both groups and their candidates are federalists.
Antonio Tajani, 63, the EPP’s candidate, served as European commissioner for transport and industry from 2008 to 2014 and has been criticised for failing to act on warnings that Volkswagen had rigged emissions tests on its cars.
Advertisement
Gianni Pittella, 58, is his Socialist rival who has broken a pact with the EPP so that he can attack eurozone austerity policies. Mr Schulz was elected for a second term with the support of the EPP on condition the Socialists voted for Mr Tajani this year.