McMillan-Scott takes EP vice-president post; Kaminski to lead ECR
1145 update:
The Parliament has now elected its 14 vice-presidents, with some controversy. Instead of what is usually a confirmation of agreements between political Groups, there was a political battle between 15 candidates that went to three secret ballots.
The ‘additional’ candidate, Edward McMillan-Scott, who had already declared himself “uncomfortable” with the British Conservatives’ new European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) Group, stood as an independent candidate. The first two rounds of voting saw Silvana Koch-Mehrin (ALDE, Germany) - about whom there had been some controversy over her relatively low attendance rate - finish in last place. However, in the third round of voting (where candidates could be elected without reaching an absolute majority of 369 votes) saw Michal Tomasz Kaminski (Poland), the ECR’s official candidate, finished last and was eliminated.
Mr McMillan-Scott has now lost the Conservative whip and been expelled from the ECR Group. He may decide to return to the EPP Group - which would be a major boost to the main centre-right formation, as it would give it a member from each EU member state.
The immediate impact on the ECR Group is that Mr Kaminski now takes the Group’s leadership, which had been expected to go to a British Conservative (by far the biggest delegation in the ECR Group). Timothy Kirkhope and Geoffrey van Orden, the two (British) candidates for the position, stood down in the wake of Mr Kaminski’s defeat in the vice-presidential vote.
Despite the formation of the ECR Group having been driven by the Tory leader, David Cameron, and the Tories having nearly half the Group’s members, the risk of discontent among its allies following the VP election seems to have forced the choice of a non-British leader - for risk of the Group collapsing almost as soon as it had been created. Mr Kaminski’s election has been welcomed, however, by one of the leading advocates of the formation of a new Group, Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan.
Meanwhile, the ECR falls below the Greens/EFA in terms of the number of seats held (now 54). It will retain its expected chairmanship of the internal market and consumer protection committee, with Malcolm Harbour (UK) expected to take up this post. However, with this now expected to by the Tories’ only major position in the Group or the Parliament, Conservative Eurosceptic MEPs may baulk at the position being taken by Mr Harbour, who was a coordinator on the committee for the EPP-ED and is more pro-European.
EP vice-presidential ballot - results (each member was allowed to vote for 14 candidates out of 15)
The three candidates elected in the first round of voting (reaching 369 votes) were:
Rodi Kratsa-Tsagarapoulou (EPP, Greece)
Stavros Lambrinidis (Socialists & Democrats, Greece)
Giovanni Pittella (Socialists & Democrats, Italy)
No candidate was elected in the second round. In the third round, no absolute majority was required, and the candidate receiving the lowest number of votes - Michal Tomasz Kaminski (ECR, Poland) - was eliminated.
The candidates elected in the third round were:
Roberta Angelilli (EPP, Italy)
Isabelle Durant (Greens / EFA, Belgium)
Silvana Koch-Mehrin (ALDE, Germany)
Edward McMillan-Scott (ECR – standing as independent, UK)
Miguel Ángel Martìnez Martìnez (Socialists & Democrats, Spain)
Dagmar Roth-Behrendt (Socialists & Democrats, Germany)
Libor Roucek (Socialists & Democrats, Czech Republic)
Pàl Schmitt (EPP, Hungary)
Àlejo Vidal-Quadras (EPP, Spain)
Diana Wallis (ALDE, UK)
Rainer Wieland (EPP, Germany)