EU ELECTIONS 2019: MEP RUNNERS AND RIDERS Between 23 and 26 May, Europeans will vote to elect the 751 MEPs to represent them for the next five years. In this overview, we review the 10 MEPs most likely to make a difference during the next parliamentary mandate (2019-2024). Among them are candidates completely new to EU politics, in addition to current and returning Brussels heavyweights.
EU ELECTIONS 2019: MEP RUNNERS AND RIDERS
Placement at the head of party lists for the European Parliament elections is increasingly used in some Member States as a pitch for a role within the European Commission and some of these 10 will also be locking horns for the top jobs in the EU’s executive branch after the elections.
MEP
About Andrus Ansip (ALDE)
Josep Borrell (S&D)
Valdis Dombrovskis (EPP)
Nigel Farage (EFDD)
www.ciceroelections.eu
Commission Vice-President Ansip, currently in charge of the all-encompassing Digital Single Market portfolio, has been one the most prominent Brussels policymakers since 2009 – and he now wants to return to the European Parliament by standing in the upcoming May elections. Ansip, who will represent Estonia’s Reform Party, has promised to promote liberal values and hopes to offset the expected swing to the right in the new Parliament. However, with considerable support back home for him to continue on as Commissioner, his second stint as an MEP may be short-lived. The Spanish Foreign Minister and former President of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2007 is one of the heavyweights returning to Brussels this year. With Pedro Sanchez securing his place as Prime Minister in the Spanish general election in April, Borrell is a top candidate to become Spanish Commissioner, possibly in the role of high representative for foreign affairs. If not, as the lead for the Spanish Socialists list, he will be a big influence in the institution he once led. Current Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis is bidding to stay in Brussels for another five years, either for another term as Commissioner or as an MEP for the Latvian centre-right New Unity party. Having been in charge of Financial Services since the UK’s Commissioner Jonathan Hill resigned following the UK’s Brexit referendum in 2016, he intends to take on the Commission’s economic and financial affairs portfolio, or if successfully elected to the Parliament, to work in the economic and monetary affairs (ECON) committee or the budgets’ committee. With his newly-formed Brexit Party taking a strong lead in the polls for the European elections in the UK, Nigel Farage is almost certain to return to Parliament. Love him or hate him, his taunting speeches were a fixture at Strasbourg plenary sessions and he is expected to remain just as disruptive. For how long will depend on Brexit progress and whether he will have the chance to run in a UK general election.
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