PD, risk of a Pyrrhic victory. First party in EU Socialist group, but Schlein could give up chairmanship

Brussels – Not even time to celebrate the good result obtained in the European elections, thatthe Democratic Party is in danger of suffering a major blow. Indeed, it is not a foregone conclusion that the Party of the Nazarene—the national largest delegation in the Socialists and Democrats family—will succeed in securing, as is the tradition for first-place finishers, the group presidency in the European Parliament.

“It is still being discussed,” S&D sources confirm. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, is pushing for the reappointment of loyalist Iratxe Garcia Perez, who led the group for all five years of the legislature that just ended. It is true that the gap between the Spanish and Italian delegations is minimal, with 20 deputies elected in Madrid versus 21 in Rome, a far more balanced situation than in 2019 when the Spanish PSOE secured the socialist family in Brussels 21 seats, five more than the German SPD and six more than the PD. But the custom at S&D is this, the first party in the group designates the president.

However, while initially there seemed to be no doubt, a week before the vote, the view has changed. On the Dem side, negotiations with the rest of the group have been taken over by the secretary herself. On the table, in addition to the appointment of the group leader, are several posts: the chairs of the parliamentary committees and potentially also the presidency of the EU Parliament, which should be renewed in mid-term—from 2027—(but this too is a story to be seen). With this horizon in mind, Elly Schlein could give in to Sanchez’s pressure and step aside for Garcia Perez’s reappointment, giving up pushing the two newly elected possible candidates, the former governors of Emilia Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, and Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, or the more influential reappointments, such as Brando Benifei, Elisabetta Gualmini, and Irente Tinagli. None of them, by the way, has ever been in the Schlein quota within the party.

It is not only Sanchez’s leadership within the European Socialist Party that is standing in Schlein’s way: the avidity of the European People’s Party is likely to leave the PD empty-handed. The first group in the EU Parliament, which emerged strengthened from the electoral competition, aims to secure not only the presidency of the European Commission but also five years at the helm of the European Parliament. Leaving the Socialists, and Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez in particular, with his Iberian friend and former Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, to head the European Council.

The game is still on, both at the level of agreements among the three largest European families (Populars, Socialists and Liberals) and within the Socialist Alliance: the investiture of the group leader will most likely be made official in a week’s time, on June 25. From the Dem delegation in Brussels, no denial of the possible renunciation of a position that has been missing in the Nazareno for ten years, when Gianni Pittella was appointed group leader. Meanwhile, the secretary is ready to take the field: reportedly, Schlein will be in the European Parliament tomorrow. On the agenda is a meeting between the national heads of delegations of the Socialist family. Today, at the end of the group meeting, when explicitly asked about any planned talks with the PD secretary, García Pérez replied with a smile, “Of course, Elly will be here.”