Press release
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Election of the EU Commission President
Centre-right, Socialists and Liberals conclude undemocratic deal
Commenting on the announcement by the EPP, S&D and ALDE political groups in the European Parliament that they have concluded an agreement on how to decide on the selection of the president of the next European Commission (1), Rebecca Harms, President of the Greens/EFA group, and Monica Frassoni, President of the European Green Party, said:
"This deal between the three major groups confirms what was widely expected: in spite of all the promises that these elections would fundamentally change the way the European Commission president is chosen, they want to defend as much as possible their tradition of striking deals among themselves. They want to make sure that the status quo prevails, dividing up the spoils between themselves ahead of the elections.
"The Greens are campaigning for real change in the context of the forthcoming elections. We believe the European elections should be the democratic foundation for the coming legislative term and are strongly opposed to political deals being concluded before European voters have had their say. We refuse to continue with business as usual.
"It is also unacceptable that the Socialist and Liberal groups have done a deal with the centre-right EPP group, just days after their president Joseph Daul made public statements praising Hungarian prime minister Orban. The Socialist and Liberal groups rightly joined with the majority of the Parliament in criticising the anti-democratic laws passed by Orban. For them to do deal with the EPP group leader against this backdrop is hypocritical."
(1) Find the text of the statement here: http://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/newsroom/joint-declaration-epp-group-sd-group-and-alde-group-election-president-european-commission
