STRASBOURG, France, (MILLAT+APP/AFP) – Italy’s
Antonio Tajani was a step closer to becoming the new head of the European Parliament Tuesday after winning the backing of the assembly’s fourth-biggest group.
The head of the parliament’s Liberal group, former Belgian prime
minister Guy Verhofstadt, pulled out of the race and threw his support behind Tajani in what he described as a “pro-European coalition.”
Tajani, a former spokesman for Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi and
ex-European commissioner, comes from the centre-right EPP grouping, the largest in the 751-seat parliament.
MEPs are voting on Tuesday to replace Germany’s Martin Schulz, who
during five years in office made the role far more powerful and prominent than it had ever been before.
Both the EPP and the Liberal ALDE group are backing Tajani, they said
in a joint statement after Schulz formally announced Verhofstadt’s withdrawal from the contest.
“This is a first important step in the construction of a pro-European
coalition to reform and strengthen our union, which is absolutely necessary,” Verhofstadt said.
“With Trump, with Putin, with many other challenges Europe faces, it
is key we cooperate to reform our union,” he added.
US President-elect Donald Trump backed Britain’s shock vote to leave
the European Union and said he expected other EU countries to follow suit.