David Sassoli: European parliament elects Italian socialist as its new president

The former TV journalist will replace Antonio Tajani

Italian MEP David Sassoli (Reuters)

The European parliament has elected Italian socialist MEP David Sassoli as its new president.

Mr Sassoli, an MEP from the Democratic Party, replaces outgoing conservative president Antonio Tajani in the EU legislature’s top role.

A former journalist, the centre-left candidate won 345 votes in the second round of voting, ahead of right-winger Jan Zahradil who won 160 votes and Green Ska Keller who netted 119.

Leaders on the European Council had recommended a socialist be given the role of European parliament president as part of the jobs package they cooked up at a three-day summit at beginning of the week. Europe’s centre-left lost out on the commission presidency, under the plan.

Mr Sassoli will hold the post for two and a half years, and under an agreement struck with the parliament’s centre-right EPP group will hand the presidency to them after that.

However, EU leaders recommended that the parliament elect a president from central and eastern Europe, because of weak representation for the region elsewhere in the proposed jobs package. This did not happen: Mr Sassoli is the seventh European parliament president to hail from Italy, and the second in a row after Mr Tajani.

“We’re making a start to a parliamentary term where events place a great responsibility on our shoulders,” he told MEPs in his acceptance speech.

“We need to return to the spirit of the founding fathers: those who put aside the hostility of warfare and the damage caused by nationalism in order to build up a project that can bring together peace, democracy, the rule of law, development, and equality.

“Too many people in recent months have been stressing about the way this project has been in decline – stressing conflict, which we thought was just a sorry memory in our past. But our citizens have shown that they still believe in this wonderful project; the only one that is any position to rise to global challenges we face."

“We need to be strong enough to re-launch our process of integration, changing our union and enabling it to come up to a stronger response to the needs of our citizens.”

He says the European parliament should be strengthened during this parliamentary term so it could play a "leading role in a European democracy".

"The European parliament will guarantee the independence of European citizens. Only they are entitled to determine their own history. No one can take their place, no one can usurp our position."

The parliament's president acts as the body's speaker and presides over its debates; they also represent the parliament within the EU institutions and abroad.