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Schulz re-elected as EU parliament president

Written by Brian Johnson and Des Hinton-Beales on 1 July 2014 in News News

S&D group candidate has been re-elected as the president of the .

As expected, the German deputy won an absolute majority in the first ballot at the first Strasbourg plenary session of the newly constituted parliament.

Thanks to a so-called grand coalition deal with the centre-right EPP group and the Liberal ALDE group, Schulz secured 409 votes, an absolute majority.

In a short acceptance speech, he thanked all the MEPs that voted for him and said he hoped that over his two and a half year mandate that he could also "win the trust of those who didn't vote for me today"

Outlining his priorities over the next few years, he highlighted the crisis in Syria and the situation in Ukraine and called for "the need for a proper debate on the international role of the EU".

Commenting on the result, outgoing interim president, Italian S&D deputy Gianni Pittella, said, "I am very happy that Martin Schulz has been elected. In these turbulent economic and political times, it is crucial to have a strong and politically vocal president for this important institution.

"Martin Schulz led the parliament with great success over the last term and will continue to do an excellent job in this essential post.

The three other candidates for the post, the GUE/NGL group's Pablo Iglesias, the ECR’s Sajjad Karim and the Greens/EFA group’s Ulrike Lunacek were well behind votes-wise with Iglesias and Lunacek both receiving 51 votes each.

Karim though received a healthy 101 votes.

Schulz's re-election ensured that the German goes down in the EU history books as the first European parliament president to serve two consecutive terms since the assembly began direct elections in 1979.

MEPs will resume their plenary sitting this afternoon to elect the parliament’s 14 vice-presidents.

From the Twittersphere:

S&D

Congratulations @MartinSchulz [1] Clear majority, 409 votes in favor. @TheProgressives [2] will lead #EP [3] in crucial time. pic.twitter.com/463KovV44R [4]

— Tanja Fajon (@tfajon) July 1, 2014 [5]

EPP

First test to the agreement for a solid majority in the European Parliament succeeded. Congratulations to @MartinSchulz [1] for his election.

— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) July 1, 2014 [6]

ECR

Congrats to @SHKMEP [7] for getting 101 votes in today's EP President vote, & for standing up against backroom deal to stitch up #EUTopJobs [8]

— ECR Group (@ecrgroup) July 1, 2014 [9]

ALDE

Martin Schultz elected,Pres EU Parliament. Expect his support 4 dealing with Irish debt at EU level will be honoured pic.twitter.com/c6Y4JBBgQE [10]

— Marian Harkin (@MarianHarkin) July 1, 2014 [11]

Schulz ticking all the boxes in his speech: digital rights, Europe in the world, #TTIP [12]

— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) July 1, 2014 [13]

Greens/EFA

MEPs have elected @MartinSchulz [1] as #EPpresident [14]. @UlrikeLunacek [15] is now our candidate for EP vice-president

— Greens in the EP (@GreensEP) July 1, 2014 [16]

First challenge for @MartinSchulz [1] on twitter: will he give back the followers he stole from @EP_President [17]? http://t.co/T3OaU5eynM [18]

— Greens in the EP (@GreensEP) July 1, 2014 [19]

EFD

"There are no losers among the EU elite after this election. Everyone is a winner. This is a big stitch up" says UKIP Leader @Nigel_Farage [20]

— UKIP (@UKIP) July 1, 2014 [21]

Have just spoiled my ballot paper in the election for the European Parliament president. A farce and a stitch up!

— Patrick O'Flynn (@oflynnmep) July 1, 2014 [22]

About the author

Brian Johnson is managing editor of the Parliament Magazine

Des Hinton-Beales is deputy editor of the Parliament Magazine

Tags #EP2014 [23] EU Affairs [24] Categories Government and politics [25]

Source URL: https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/schulz-re-elected-eu-parliament-president

Links [1] https://twitter.com/MartinSchulz [2] https://twitter.com/TheProgressives [3] https://twitter.com/hashtag/EP?src=hash [4] http://t.co/463KovV44R [5] https://twitter.com/tfajon/statuses/483915932528807936 [6] https://twitter.com/EPPGroup/statuses/483915959066198016 [7] https://twitter.com/SHKMEP [8] https://twitter.com/hashtag/EUTopJobs?src=hash [9] https://twitter.com/ecrgroup/statuses/483918724991553536 [10] http://t.co/c6Y4JBBgQE [11] https://twitter.com/MarianHarkin/statuses/483916756025896960 [12] https://twitter.com/hashtag/TTIP?src=hash [13] https://twitter.com/MarietjeSchaake/statuses/483917211313401856 [14] https://twitter.com/hashtag/EPpresident?src=hash [15] https://twitter.com/UlrikeLunacek [16] https://twitter.com/GreensEP/statuses/483914753887440896 [17] https://twitter.com/EP_President [18] http://t.co/T3OaU5eynM [19] https://twitter.com/GreensEP/statuses/483917187049336832 [20] https://twitter.com/Nigel_Farage [21] https://twitter.com/UKIP/statuses/483915253483601921 [22] https://twitter.com/oflynnmep/statuses/483907482419736577 [23] https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/tags/ep2014 [24] https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/tags/eu-affairs [25] https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/categories/government-and-politics