Simone Veil chairing the
Simone Veil chairing the first plenary session as president in 1979 Photo: European Parliament PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT: red-carpet mannequin or hot seat? The post of president of the European Parliament can be (almost) whatever the person elected makes out of it. Some stick to their ceremonial duties - while others have used the presidency for more Machiavellian power games. By Peter Teffer One of the tasks of the president of the European Parliament is to chair votes on new bills. Hans-Gert Pottering, who was president from 2007 to 2009, has candidly described this task as "a mental and physical effort". "Sitting in a full plenary assembly and conducting votes swiftly and in due fashion demanded total concentration, and after voting had taken place I had invariably worked up a sweat," wrote Pottering, a centre-right German, in his autobiography, United for the Better: My European Way. "Also my thigh muscles became so tense that I often found myself tottering the first few metres after leaving the president's chair." Such physical duress aside, to a large degree the parliament presidency is what the president makes of it. There have been 15 presidents since the European parliament became directly-elected by citizens in 1979. 32 — EUROPEAN PARLIAMANT ELECTIONS 2019
Political science professor Ariadna Ripoll Servent analysed in her book, The European Parliament, how the parliament's rules allow plenty of room for interpretation on what kind of president the parliament chief should be. To Schulz, it was clear that the president of the European parliament should be on equal footing to the presidents of the European Commission and of the European Council, where national governments meet. "Over the years, we have seen a range of presidential styles that have reflected the personality of the different presidents and their personal agendas," she wrote. Journalist Martin Winter, who wrote a biography of Schulz, said that the German wanted to be "a president that has never before been seen in Brussels", describing the era as the "Schulz Show". That style can range from being timid and focussed largely on ceremony, towards the very politically active. THE MACHIAVELLIAN CHARMER The most bullish example in the parliament's history is centre-left German Martin Schulz, the only politician to have served two terms in the president's chair, from 2012-2017. Ripoll Servent said that before Schulz, centre-left Spaniard Josep Borrell (2004-2007) was probably the first to engage in what she called "presidential activism" - but that Schulz, with his confrontational style, took it to a new level. Nils Torvalds, a Finnish liberal MEP, called Schulz "a very charming, but very Machiavellian, German". Schulz's successor, centre-right Italian Antonio Tajani, is a more traditional president. One MEP who hails from Tajani's European People's Party (EPP) said, on condition of anonymity, that Schulz - from the rival socialist group - had been much better than Tajani in raising the parliament's profile in the international media. On the other hand, Tajani has introduced the series of plenary debates with prime ministers and presidents. Eleonora Evi, an Italian MEP from the Five Star Movement, told EUobserver she did not have a high opinion of Tajani. "He is very much interfering [in] the political debate at national level in Italy," she complained. Hans-Gert Pottering at his last plenary session as president, 6 May 2009 Photo: European Parliament 33 — EUROPEAN PARLIAMANT ELECTIONS 2019
