French President Emmanuel Macron said in a interview with Le Soir newspaper that European Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier has great qualities to become new European Commission president
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2019) French President Emmanuel Macron said in a interview with Le Soir newspaper that European Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier has great qualities to become new European Commission president."Michel Barnier is a man of great qualities and he has proved it once again in the way he is handling the negotiations with the British [over Brexit] ... So, he is one of the European leaders with eminent qualities who can be on the list [of candidates for European Commission presidency]," Macron said.
He also gave a short list of qualities needed to make a good Commission president.
"We need women and men who know Europe well, who have strong legitimacy," he said.
In addition, Macron stated that he did not support the Spitzenkandidaten system whereby a lead candidate for the European Commission president is chosen by a party that wins the most seats in the European Parliament election.
According to the Europe Elects portal, each party on the European level can announce their transnational spitzenkandidat prior to the European election and hence present them as informal face of their election bid. The spitzenkandidat of a party who secures a majority governing coalition in the European Parliament (353 seats required) becomes European Commission president if approved by the European Council, which consists of heads of national governments and states.
The elections will take place from May 23-26 and determine the new makeup of the 751-seat European Parliament.
