ALDE Group Chair Verhofstadt Considered For Post Of EU Parliament Head - Source

The candidacy of a former Belgian prime minister and the incumbent leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Guy Verhofstadt, is being considered for the post of the European Parliament's head, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Sputnik

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2019) The candidacy of a former Belgian prime minister and the incumbent leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Guy Verhofstadt, is being considered for the post of the European Parliament's head, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Sputnik.

Consultations on the selection of candidates for key European posts started at the informal EU summit on May 28. The nomination issues are also expected to be in the focus of the EU summit that is due to begin in Brussels later on Thursday. Following the 2014 European elections, the process took about three months.

"The candidacy of Verhofstadt is being considered for the post of head of the European Parliament," the source said.

Earlier, a parliamentary source told Sputnik that the European People's Party (EPP), the leading political force in the bloc, offered ALDE and centrists of French President Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche! party, which jointly formed the third largest Renew Europe parliamentary group after the May elections, the seat of European Parliament head in exchange for support of EPP European Commission President candidate Manfred Weber.

Although the EPP has remained the largest bloc in the European Parliament after the elections, it lost 38 seats in the 751-seat legislature, dropping from 217 seats five years ago to 179. Even if the party joins forces with the second largest group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) that won 153 seats in the parliament, it still will not be enough to form their traditional grand coalition. The EPP therefore needs to secure support from other political forces to get Weber appointed as the commission's new president.

S&D, meanwhile, insists on the candidacy of European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans for the top EU office. The Liberals, in turn, throw their support behind Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

German national Weber is a proponent of anti-Russia sanctions and critic of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will bring Russian gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea. Weber is backed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, while Macron supports the candidacy of Danish Vestager.