Our apologies for being a little behind with this, but news has reached us of Diana Wallis’s attempt to become the President of the European Parliament, a job that, traditionally, has been stitched up by the two dominant Groups within the Parliament, the Socialists and Democrats, and the European People’s Party. Indeed, the Presidency has been held during the first half of the 2009-2014 term by Jerzy Buzek from the European People’s Party as part of a deal whereby he would stand down part way through to be replaced by a Socialist MEP.
The catch is that a by-election must take place although, with 449 of the 736 Votes being held by the two Groups, if they stay together, the result should be a foregone conclusion. The contest has drawn three candidates;
- Nirj Deva (Conservative, UK – part of the European Conservatives and Reformists)
- Martin Schulz (SPD, Germany – part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats)
- Diana Wallis (Liberal Democrats, UK – Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe)
For Diana’s explanation as to why she is running, and what she hopes to achieve, check out her video here.
The election itself takes place tomorrow (Monday, January 16th), and we’ll be covering the result on Tuesday.Diana Wallis Presidential video
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4 Comments
I’m delighted that Diana Wallis is contesting this election. She is championing the cause of more open and transparent government within the EU. A worthy cause.
‘A little behind’!? Did the news reach you by carrier pidgeon? Diana announced her candidacy on 1 December (http://www.euractiv.com/future-eu/liberal-mep-wallis-runs-european-parliament-presidency-news-509345)!
Come on Lib Dem Voice, you can do better than this!
Today the voting online is very much in Diana’s favour at 85% with 214 votes. Schultz is at 11% with 28 votes and Deva is at 4% wth 9 votes. There are many very positive comments about Diana on the website.
Here is the URL – cast your vote and post a comment in her favour.
http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2011/12/20/who-should-be-the-next-president-of-the-european-parliament/
Joshua,
In fairness, our coverage of European issues is a bit of a work in progress but, in this instance, you’re being a mite harsh. There was no coverage of this story in the mainstream media, her husband hasn’t blogged about it, and her video promoting her campaign was only issued last Monday.
However, if you fancy being one of our European correspondents… 🙂