Veteran German MEP Manfred Weber has again been elected as leader of the biggest group in the EU parliament.
Weber is a long serving German deputy from the CSU – Christlich Soziale Union – political party and a well known figure in EU circles.
He was re-elected chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority.
Re-elected for the 4th time, he has presided over the largest political group in the Parliament since 2014.
At the same time, the centre right EPP also renewed its entire leadership team.
Ten vice-chairpersons were elected at the same time.
They are:
François-Xavier Bellamy (France, Les Républicains)
Andrzej Halicki (Poland, Platforma Obywatelska)
Jeroen Lenaers (Netherlands, Christen Democratisch Appèl)
Dolors Montserrat (Spain, Partido Popular)
Siegfried Muresan (Romania, Partidul Naţional Liberal)
Lidia Pereira (Portugal, Partido Social Democrata)
Massimiliano Salini (Italy, Forza Italia)
Tomas Tobe (Sweden, Moderaterna)
Romana Tomc (Slovenia, Slovenska demokratska stranka)
Željana Zovko (Croatia, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica)
The EPP Group has 188 MEPs after the EU elections.
It has also welcomed 14 new Members of the European Parliament into its ranks.
A spokesman said, “With these new members, we have consolidated our position as by far the strongest political Group in the European Parliament.”
The newly admitted MEPs are:
BoerBurgerBeweging – BBB (Netherlands): Sander Smit, Jessika van Leeuwen
Familien-Partei Deutschlands (Germany): Niels Geuking
Liberal Alliance (Denmark): Henrik Dahl
Nieuw Sociaal Contract (Netherlands): Dirk Gotink
STAN – Mayors and Independents (Czech Republic): Danuše Nerudová, Jan Farský
Tisza (Hungary): Péter Magyar, Dóra Dávid, Zoltán Tarr, András Tivadar Kulja, Eszter Lakos, Gabriella Gerzsenyi, Kinga Kollár
A spokesman said, “These MEPs have joined the EPP political group, but their parties did not join the EPP Party.”
“Decisions regarding Group membership and Party membership are independent of each other. MEPs from STAN (Czech Republic) and Familienpartei (Germany) were already members of the EPP Group in the past.”
After the elections, the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR) is now the European Parliament’s third-largest force, overtaking the place held since 2019 by Renew. ECR now has 83 seats, compared to 69 in the outgoing Parliament. The Socialists are in second position behind the EPP.
