Duitse centrumdemocraat Pottering naar voren geschoven als voorzitter Europees Parlement (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The centre-right group in the European Parliament is getting ready to appoint its candidate to head the assembly, with its German leader Hans-Gert Pottering admitting that it is an "open secret" his own election may come along as a result of an "uncontested decision."

Back in 2004, the European People's Party (EPP-ED), the biggest parliamentary group made a deal with the second biggest group, the socialists (PES), to divide the five-year post between them.

As a result of this backroom agreement, a centre-right candidate should replace Josep Borell, the socialist president, at the beginning of 2007.

Centre-right MEPs are set to decide on their nominee on 14 November and present him or her to other political groups.

Socialist leader Martin Schultz told EUobserver his group will "honour [its] commitment and support the person chosen by the centre-right."

For his part, Mr Pottering told journalists on Wednesday (30 August) that if he is asked by his group, he is "perfectly willing to accept this very demanding but rewarding job."

Green light from the Brits?

Mr Pottering appeared quite confident about his chances as he announced the timetable for his group to decide its presidential candidate, although he did point out that one can never be sure ahead of the vote.

"UK conservatives have promised us eternal recompense in heaven because we can keep them on board and as a result of that there's a good atmosphere in the group," the German group chairman quipped.

He was referring to a recent decision by the British conservative leader David Cameron to postpone setting up a new eurosceptic group to house MEPs from his party - instead of in the federalist EPP-ED - until the next European Parliament election in 2009.

UK conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, while underlining that he does not agree with Mr Pottering on several issues, said he considers him a "very agreeable guy, polite, charming, someone who would be a fair-minded president."

He added that "very possibly" many of his colleagues in the group share this opinion.

Tricky compromises

But several MEPs, particularly from new member states, have in the past expressed their anger over Mr Pottering's views and his strategy to push for compromise at all costs.

According to one parliament insider, some deputies consider his idea that "[the EPP-ED is] not the strongest group but the biggest minority" as a symbol of his defensive approach and reluctance to fight for key ideological principles.

"They see him as someone more interested in numbers than in real achievement of our political goals. But that basically means they are happy for him to go and chair the parliament, so that the EPP-ED can elect its new stronger leader," the source noted.

Czech deputy Zuzana Roithova also pointed out "I must admit I was not always satisfied with the way we reach decisions in our group," adding she was particularly disappointed with the deal on the services directive with the socialists that Mr Pottering pushed for.

But she still thinks "Mr Pottering would be a great input for this parliament as he is experienced and he will be more capable of formulating and presenting the chambers' positions as well as running the plenary sessions than the current president."

Unlike Mr Borell who became the first man to chair the assembly without previously being an MEP in 2004, the German deputy is a parliamentary veteran - he has been an MEP since 1979 and leader of the centre-right group since 1999.

Nice guy but not nice deal

But his long-term colleague and opponent in the chamber, Danish eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, has criticised the pre-arranged nature of the forthcoming parliament leadership election.

"It is sad to have a deal on the choice of president, instead, we are going to campaign for a fair chair as we need a neutral not partisan speaker of the house," Mr Bonde suggested.

He added that the president should ideally quit his group activities and be there for all MEPs, "but with Mr Pottering we would just have a majority leader rather than a neutral president."

Other groups have also spoken out against the deal between the centre-right and the socialists and are still considering whether to propose their own candidate.

"We are keen to support a proper election rather than just a coronation, and so we may propose another candidate to stand against Mr Pottering for the benefit of democracy," a spokesman from the liberal group said.