The two biggest groups in the EU parliament have re-elected their long standing leaders for another term.
Iratxe Garcia Perez and Manfred Weber were re-elected as leaders of the S&D and EPP groups respectively.
Both have been in their positions for several years.
Speaking after her re-election, Garcia Perez said, “This re-election is not mine alone. It is a shared mandate and a responsibility to deliver on our citizens’ demands at one of the most challenging times.
“We need a truly pro-European majority, committed to democracy, social rights, environmental protection and the rule of law. A majority that, with transparency and responsibility, delivers policies that genuinely improve our citizens’ lives.”
She has served as a Member of the European Parliament since 2004, and served as the leader of the Socialists and Democrats parliamentary group since 2019.
Meanwhile, Weber leads the EPP, the biggest group in the assembly.
He is a German MEP (CSU – Christlich-Soziale Union) and was re-elected leader by an overwhelming majority.
Re-elected for no less than the fifth time, he has presided over the largest political group in the European Parliament since 2014.
He has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2004 and is a member of the Christian Social Union, part of the EPP.
In the 2003 Bavaria state elections Weber became the state’s youngest parliamentarian at the age of 31.
Heading the EPP, he was the youngest group leader in the Parliament at the time of his appointment in 2014, as well as the youngest-ever group leader of the EPP.
Weber is known as a moderate politician and power broker in EU politics.
At the same time, the EPP Group also renewed its entire leadership team. These are the ten Vice-Chairpersons who were elected (in alphabetical order):
- François-Xavier BELLAMY (France, Les Républicains)
- Andrzej HALICKI (Poland, Koalicja Obywatelska)
- Eszter LAKOS (Hungary, Tisztelet és Szabadság Párt)
- Jeroen LENAERS (Netherlands, Christen Democratisch Appèl)
- Dolors MONTSERRAT (Spain, Partido Popular)
- Siegfried MUREŞAN (Romania, Partidul Naţional Liberal)
- Massimiliano SALINI (Italy, Forza Italia)
- Tomas TOBÉ (Sweden, Moderaterna)
- Romana TOMC (Slovenia, Slovenska demokratska stranka)
- Željana ZOVKO (Croatia, Hrvatska demokratska zajednica)
