The European People's Party
(EPP) and ALDE groups in the European Parliament have reached a
cooperation agreement that effectively puts Italian Antonio
Tajani of the EPP on track to become the next president of the
EP.
ALDE's liberal candidate Guy Verhofstadt has withdrawn his
bid to be EP president.
Tajani came top in the first round of voting on Tuesday with
274 votes.
There were 683 valid votes, so the threshold that Tajani
needed to reach was 342.
Another Italian, Socialist candidate Gianni Pittella got 183
votes, followed by Stevens (77), Lambert (56), Forenza (50) and
Rebega (43).
Pittella, the head of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) caucus,
said Tuesday that time of agreements between the biggest groups
was over.
"There won't be a grand coalition any more, a privileged
agreement between the big groups, because there's a need for
clarity - a clear, civil vision that is different from
instability and paralysis," he said in speech before MEPs
started voting to elect the successor to Martin Schulz.
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