European Parliament elects Tajani as its new president
Antonio Tajani - Photo © European Union 2017 - source EP
(STRASBOURG) - Euro-MPs elected Antonio Tajani, an Italian member of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) as their new president on Tuesday, to succeed Martin Schulz.
Mr Tajani won Parliament's presidential election with 351 votes in a final face-off with another Italian Gianni Pittella, leader of the S&D group, who secured 282 votes. Seven candidates had put themselves forward for the post, with Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian leader of ALDE, withdrawing in favour of Tajani.
At the press conference following an election which included four rounds of voting over 12 hours, Mr Tajani thanked his predecessor Martin Schulz for the work he did as well as the MEPs who voted for the other candidates, telling them he would be a "president for everybody".
He said he would seek to ensure that Parliament would be strong and have its views heard by the Council, representing national governments in the EU. He also said he dedicated his election to the victims of last year's earthquakes in Italy.
Antonio Tajani served in the Italian army and worked as a journalist before entering politics with Forza Italia. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and served as a spokesperson for Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusoni, the leader of Forza Italia, in 1994-95.He became the commissioner in charge of transport in 2008 and take over responsibility for the industry and entrepreneurship portfolio in 2010.
Tajani, who holds a law degree and is married with two children, was re-elected as MEP in 1999, 2004 and 2014. Following his latest re-election he was elected vice-president of the European Parliament.
He is the Parliament's 30th president and the 15th since the first Parliament elections in 1979.
The president oversees all of the Parliament's work, its governing bodies and plenary debates. He or she represents the Parliament in all legal affairs and external relations and at the start of every European Council summit sets out the Parliament's point of view about the items on the agenda.
The president also signs the EU budget into law and co-signs legislation with the president of the Council.
Mr Tajani's term in office will end in 2019, when the next elections for the European Parliament will be held.