Martin Schulz elected as EP president

German politician Martin Schulz of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was elected European Parliament (EP) president today, as the European People's Party press and communication advisor Girts Salmgriezis told LETA.

387 MEPs voted for Schulz, who was elected in the first round of the election.

The EP president is expected to display no bias, as he has to represent the interests of the entire EP. Many of the duties of the EP president are of representative nature.

The EP president supervises the work of the EP and its plenary sessions. The president also represents the EP, signs the EU budget and, together with the EU Council president, signs EU regulations.

The other candidates for EP president were British MEPs Diana Wallis of the centrist Liberals and Democrats (ALDE), who won 141 votes, and Nirj Deva of the euroskeptic conservative ECR group, who won 142 votes.

The EP president is elected for a two-and-a-half-year term.

Latvian MEPs previously said that Schulz was a controversial candidate, though a gifted politician.

Last year, Schulz made sharp criticism of the inclusion of All For Latvia!-For Fatherland And Freedom/LNNK in the third government of Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity).

LETA
Photo: vesti.az

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