Antonio TAJANI, EP President, gives a press conference following the European Council which takes place on 20th and 21th June in Brussels.

Brussels

TAJANI, Antonio (EPP, IT)

press conference

European Council meeting 20-21 June 2019 (T)

Press conference by Antonio TAJANI, EP President, following the European Council, 20-21/06/2019: extracts

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, At the meeting with Donald TUSK, the Council President,  the other day we emphasized the principle of the Spitzenkandidat which is close to the heart of the parliament. Its a principle that shows that there is an electoral campaign, choices are made, the idea is that we are bringing our citizens closer to the institutions,.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I also said that the ALDE group was in favour of the Spitzenkandidat procedure in the beginning, but today they can't be in favour of that, because of the link between the Spitzenkandidats and the transnational lists.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, There is no agreement or distribution of the jobs, the parliament is autonomous. Of course the political families discuss, its only normal, of course they're involved but the European Parliament is completely independent, they heads of state don't decide who is the head of the parliament, but obviously the political parties talk about it but it is not up to them to decide who will be the President of the Parliament.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, I hope we find an agreement, I hope  we can also avoid inter-institutional wars. But of course I have said that for us the Spitzenkandidat process is not a caprice of the parliament, it's a political question, of transparency and democracy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, And we can't change Manfred WEBER. Because he was elected at a congress, the European citizens that voted for the EPP voted for Manfred WEBER, all across Europe.

SOUNDBITE (English), Antonio TAJANI, EP President, We need to work for achieving a good solution and to have a new candidate as President of the European Commission. Then the parliament will vote. The debate is open among the Council, there are different positions, in this moment the agreement is far.