Manfred Weber gets support for Commission top job from EPP leaders

February 20, 2020 / By mobanmarket

Manfred Weber gets support for Commission top job from EPP leaders

Only Hungary’s Viktor Orbán hasn’t backed the German MEP.

Manfred Weber secured the support of seven of the eight heads of EU countries belonging to the European People’s Party for his bid to be European Commission president, EPP officials said.

Two EPP officials said “official letters of support” for Weber had been received from the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Ireland, as well as the Austrian chancellor and the National Liberal Party of the Romanian president.

Weber already had the support of his fellow German, Chancellor Angela Merkel. That means the only conservative leader who hasn’t declared his support for Weber is Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister.

The letter from Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, addressed to EPP president Joseph Daul and seen by POLITICO, says he will “formally endorse” Weber because the Bavarian MEP is “a politician and a person with the experience, vision and determination to be an excellent president of the European Commission.”

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“I believe he is, and will continue to be, a unifying personality in European politics,” Varadkar added.

Weber, 46, who is the leader of the EPP in the European Parliament, declared last month that he wants to be the party’s Spitzenkandidat, or lead candidate, for European Commission president.

If he secures the nomination at a party congress in Helsinki in November, the Bavarian will be in pole position to replace Jean-Claude Juncker because the EPP is expected to win the most seats in next year’s European election.

However, leaders of EU governments have said that legally they cannot be bound by the Spitzenkandidat system, so there is no guarantee that Weber will get the Commission top job.

Weber’s main rival for the EPP nod is Alexander Stubb, a former Finnish prime minister who unveiled his campaign plans at a Brussels bar on Wednesday morning.

Other EPP members who have pledged to support Weber include the Dutch Christian Democrats, Greece’s New Democracy, and the Slovenian Democratic Party.

The main French conservative party, Les Républicains, has yet to decide whether to back Weber.