Adrian Delia backs Weber as EPP’s lead candidate for Commission top job

PN Leader Adrian Delia said yesterday evening that he will be supporting Manfred Weber to be the European People’s Party’s (EPP) Lead Candidate for President of the European Commission. The German has served as the leader of the EPP since 2014.

He is the favourite to win the group’s candidature. The other contender is former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.

The elections will be held during the EPP Congress in Helsinki, Finland, later this week.

The Socialist bloc’s lead candidate will be the EU’s deputy chief executive, Frans Timmermans, the party said yesterday, after fellow commissioner Maros Sefcovic stepped aside.

Sefcovic, who is vice president for energy on the European Commission, said he endorsed Timmermans, the executive’s first vice president, in his bid to succeed Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker next year.

The European Parliament has said that Juncker’s successor must be the lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat in German, from a winning party.

However, many national leaders, who will nominate the next head of the Commission after May’s vote, say they reserve the right to put forward anyone they like for parliament’s approval, Reuters reported.

“That leaves it unclear how the battle for the EU’s top job will play out. Conservative French Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier or centrist allies of French President Emmanuel Macron, such as Danish EU commissioner Margrethe Vestager, are also cited as contenders. There is even speculation on German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a dark horse, notably since she announced last week that she will not seek reelection.”