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The current party chairman, Beyer, who has little experience in Europe, was the only candidate. He was elected in Slovenia’s closed parliament.
advertisementThe European left on Saturday selected Austrian Walter Beier as its candidate for president of the European Commission, following an election in June.
Beyer, 70, a former member of the Austrian Communist Party, has been party leader since December 2022, but until then he had little experience in European politics.
He defended his lack of European status at the group’s meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Saturday, telling reporters: “Frankly, Europe is not just Brussels.”
“Europe has 27 countries, hundreds of cities and millions of people. The European Left wants to be the voice of these people whose voices are rarely heard in Brussels.”
Despite being the group’s president, Baier is not on the national list and has no plans to stand for election to the European Parliament.
The party’s conference, which unlike other groups was held behind closed doors, also served to agree on a manifesto for the European elections, scheduled to be held from June 6 to 9.
The left has set five priorities for the upcoming election campaign: civil rights, peace and democracy, the cost of living, the climate crisis, and public services and social rights.
A difficult path to the European Commission
The leading candidate system, also known as the Spitzenkandidaten process, allows European political parties to choose their leaders for European elections. If the party secures the most seats, its candidate will become the front-runner for the European Commission presidency.
Incumbent Ursula von der Leyen is now the favorite to win after her announcement earlier this week. her desire to run for a second term. She is expected to be formally recognized as Spitzenkandidat of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) at its congress in early March. The EPP was the largest group in the half-cycle and is expected to remain so after the vote.
The Green Party has already Selected Terry Reinke and Bas Eickhout Meanwhile, the Social Democrats are expected to appoint current European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicola Schmidt to the role at a meeting next week.
It is highly unlikely that a leftist will be able to lead the European Commission.
The party is deeply divided in the run-up to the election, but Current predictions by EU constituenciesThe polling firm predicts that the group could increase its number of seats from 37 to 42, and that it may actually lose some members due to party realignment after June’s referendum.
For example, the newly founded Spanish party Smar was previously part of the European left-wing party Podemos, but recently suggested it might join the Green Party instead.
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