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Tweets of the Week: EP jobs, UK job, EU top jobs

By Daniel Perreault, Evan Lamos and Jennifer Baker | EURACTIV.com

21-06-2019

Parliament groups select their heads, Conservative hopefuls tear each other to shreds, and it’s the council top jobs summit that everyone dreads. This episode is supported by UNESDA.

Yes, this week it’s a jobs special! Starting with the European Parliament, where the groups are starting to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Spanish MEP Iratxe García is the new leader of the Socialist group after previous incumbent, Udo Bullmann, dropped out.

Ska Keller was confirmed as the head of the Greens with minimal fuss and bother.

And the ECR opted for a two for one with Ryszard Legutko & Raffaele Fitto as co-chairs.

Proceedings were markedly less smooth in the newly formed RenewEurope group. Emmanuel Macron’s top pick for the job, Nathalie Loiseau, suffered what Nick Gutteridge called an “extraordinary, self-inflicted and rapid fall from grace” after she denied making insulting comments about other group members, but then apologised for them anyway.

In case you were wondering, she reportedly – hat tip Alex Pigman – called Manfred Weber an “ectoplasm” and also allegedly attacked fellow French MEP Jean Arthuis, saying he was a “bitter man”.

In the end, the fledgling group elected former Romanian PM Dacian Cioloș.
“With Dacian, the group has elected a strong pro-European leader who will make sure our voice will be heard,” said Guy Verhodstadt.

Across the channel, the knives were out in the race for Tory leader and de facto British Prime Minister as the candidates still standing on Tuesday night took part in a televised debate.

But veteran actor Peter Egan said: “There was no debate. Only opinion and self promotion.”

Former Deputy PM Michael Heseltine said the de-… programme… “was a masterclass in avoiding the answers to questions.”

Stig Abell concluded that the big winners from the show were Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, and anyone doing anything else!

An account called Ali L said “That’s an hour of my life I’ll never get back.”

And highlighted the scandal that erupted the next day over an Imam who asked questions on the programme, but had to delete his Twitter account because of antisemitic comments.

But despite all the to-ing, fro-ing and back-stabbing, Boris Johnson is still in pole position.

Finally in its very own Game of Thrones showdown, the Spitzenkandidat jostling makes the Conservative party process look positively streamlined.

As EU leaders arrived for the Council Summit on Thursday everything was simultaneously on and off the table. A kind of Schroedingers summit.

Of course, if you want to know what’s really going on, look at the bookies. Ladbrokes have Weber and Vestager leading the betting on 2/1, that’s a 33.3% chance of winning, with non-spitzen Michel Barnier close behind on 3/1.

But throwing caution to the wind, Luxembourg PM Xavier Bettel, said wildcard
Angela Merkel would be ‘dream’ EU Commission president.

Merkel herself sparked concern this week after she began shaking at a public event. Fortunately she is apparently fine and just needed a few glasses of water.

But in the wildcard of all wildcards, Rory Stewart is now odds-on favourite to be Commission president joked Martini Seltzermayr.

That’s about the one thing we can be sure DIDN’T happen in all the behind the scenes horse-trading.

This week’s episode is supported by UNESDA. Read more about Soft Drink Europe’s plan to reduce added sugars by 10% by 2020 by following them online.

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