EPP President on Juncker nomination: “European Council correctly took into account the democratic result of the May elections”

The President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, following the decision by the European Council to nominate Jean-Claude Juncker as the next President of the European Commission, said:

“Yesterday at the EPP Summit in Kortrijk, our heads of state and government reiterated their full support to Jean-Claude Juncker and their commitment to follow both the text and spirit of the Lisbon Treaty in choosing the next President of the European Commission. Today, the European Council correctly took into account the democratic result of the May elections and decided overwhelmingly to nominate Jean-Claude Juncker: the candidate of the EPP; the candidate of the European political party that won the 2014 European elections.

I am confident that this very large majority, which Jean-Claude Juncker received today in the European Council, will be repeated on 16 July in the European Parliament. Jean-Claude Juncker will negotiate with all the pro-European political groups in the European Parliament in an effort to establish the widest-possible consensus on the programmatic priorities of the Juncker Commission."

Finally, President Daul also commented on the signing of the Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia:

“I warmly welcome the signing of the Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia. The EPP and our member parties in those countries were the driving force in this very demanding process. These Association Agreements will be the catalyst for further reforms in these countries, based on our shared values. Today is not the end of a process; it is the beginning of our common journey!”

The Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission: Herman VAN ROMPUY and José Manuel BARROSO.

Members of the European Council: Angela MERKEL (Germany), Traian BĂSESCU (Romania), Viktor ORBÁN (Hungary), Donald TUSK (Poland), Fredrik REINFELDT (Sweden), Laimdota STRAUJUMA (Latvia), Enda KENNY (Ireland), Antonis SAMARAS (Greece), Alexander STUBB (Finland) and Pedro PASSOS COELHO (Portugal).

Deputy Prime Minister Pieter DE CREM (Belgium), Deputy Prime Minister Pavel BĔLOBRÁDEK (Czech Republic), Vice Chancellor Michael SPINDELEGGER (Austria) and Minister of Interior Angelino ALFANO (Italy) and opposition leaders Boyko BORISSOV (Bulgaria), Simon BUSUTTIL (Malta), Jan FIGEL’ (Slovakia), Tomislav KARAMARKO (Croatia), Andrius KUBILIUS (Lithuania), Sybrand Van HAERSMA BUMA (The Netherlands) and party Co-chair François FILLON (France) as well as party Vice President Milan ZVER (Slovenia) also participated.

EPP President Joseph DAUL hosted the EPP Summit. The Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament Manfred WEBER, the Secretary General of the EPP Antonio LÓPEZ-ISTÚRIZ and the members of the EPP Presidency also attended.

Note to editors:

The EPP is the largest and most influential European-level political party of the centre-right, which currently includes 73 member-parties from 39 countries, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, 12 EU and 6 non-EU heads of state and government, 13 members of the European Commission and the largest Group in the European Parliament.