EU Commissioner Brunner elected Vice President of the EPP-Diepresse.com
Magnus Brunner is one of ten vice presidents of the faction of the European Conservatives. Manfred Weber was elected EPP party leader on Tuesday.
EU migration commissioner Magnus Brunner was elected on Wednesday as one of ten vice president of the European People’s Party (EPP). Brunner received 356 of 546 votes at the EPP Congress in Valencia in Spanish on Tuesday. « As the strongest political force in Europe, we are a reliable partner in an insecure world that stands for democracy and freedom. I am pleased to help shape our vision for a wealthy and safe Europe, » he said.
The German CSU politician Manfred Weber was re-elected as an EPP party leader on Tuesday, he was the only candidate. Brunner received the seven votes among the twelve candidates for an office of vice president.
Two applicants did not get enough votes
The Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, German Member of the Member of the Member of the Member of the Board of Romania, was also confirmed as EPP Vice President, the EPP faction vice Siegfried Muresan, the Polish EU mandatar Andrze Halicki and the Croatian EU Commissioner Dubravka Šuica. In addition to Brunner, the former Greek Finance and Economic Minister Kostis Hatzidakis, the Irish ex-EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel are added to this function. Two applicants – Bulgarian Foreign Minister and President of the Vice Minister of Minister Mariya Gabriel and the Belgian MP Wouter Beke did not get enough votes.
As a member of the EPP Presidium, Brunner automatically takes part in the preparatory EVP meetings before EU peaks. Brunner’s predecessor in the EU Commission, Johannes Hahn (ÖVP), was also an EPP Vice President for years. At 188 out of a total of 720 MPs, the EPP is the strongest force in the European Parliament, before the social democratic S&D parliamentary group with 136 and the right -wing parliamentary group Patriots for Europe with 86. In twelve of the 27 EU member states, the head of government or – in Romania and Cyprus – the President.
Loptatka: Important to enforce Austrian interests
The ÖVP delegation manager in the European Parliament, Reinhold Lopatka, said that to enforce Austrian interests in Europe, it is of great importance to be represented at the head of the European People’s Party with a leadership. « Magnus Brunner occupies a key department in the European Commission with the migration, on which the political successes of the EVP depend significantly. It is very good that, in addition to the main responsibility for migration in the Commission as Vice President of the EVP, he is now also involved in the leading position in its work. »
Lopatka spoke out on the edge of the EPP Congress for the inclusion of further EU members. « Now we have to do everything we can to advance the expansion on the Western Balkans. As chief negotiators of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament for Montenegro, I am confident that we can still record the country in this period and thus again become an EU of 28 Member States, » said Lopatka according to the broadcast. « The accession negotiations with Montenegro are well advanced. For the first time since Croatia’s joining in 2013, we could expand the EU again and thus strengthen. (APA)
