Drie 'tegenkandidaten' gaan met Poetering de strijd aan voor voorzitterschap Europees Parlement (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Three candidates have emerged to contest the favourite - German centre-right MEP Hans-Gert Poettering - in the race to become the next president of the European Parliament.

The green group decided on Wednesday (6 December) to nominate its co-chairman Monica Frassoni while the leftist GUE/NGE group supported its French leader Francis Wurtz to run for the job.

The greens' Ms Frassoni wants to campaign in favour of a more efficient and environmentally-friendly parliament while Mr Wurtz will focus his message on social issues, mainly against de-localisation of industries and social dumping.

Meanwhile, a third candidate, Danish eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde, is likely to be officially named next week to run for the cross-party "Fair chair" campaign on the principle the presidency should be openly contested instead of decided in back-room deals.

All three candidates come from the parliament's smaller groups and are willing to participate in the presidency race despite the widely-expected victory of Mr Poettering, whose support is guaranteed by a deal between the centre-right EPP-ED and socialist PSE, the two biggest parliamentary groups.

Under their agreement, the centre-right nominee will replace the current socialist president Josep Borrell in January - the middle of the 2004-2009 parliamentary term.

The Liberals as the third biggest group will formally decide next week whether they also accept Mr Poettering's candidacy or whether they will put up their own presidential candidate - seen as unlikely as no name has come up so far.

Mr Poettering has already lobbied his presidency to the liberals and appears to have convinced many of them as "he answered openly and honestly to their questions and comments," said the group's spokesman.

But he said that some liberal deputies may support either of the pro-reform candidates - Mr Bonde or Ms Frassoni - as Mr Poettering and his group do not "seem very keen to support our parliamentary reform ideas."

Stronger voice or reform?

Mr Poettering is presenting himself as a candidate who could use his strong links with the forthcoming German EU presidency to boost the parliament's role next year - such as when the union's 50th birthday declaration is being drafted for next March.

He also wants to press on the bloc's foreign policy chief Javier Solana to appear before MEPs more often, with the parliament calling for more say on who represents the EU in foreign missions and how they are funded.

Mr Poettering has indicated he is not completely against the suggestion by liberal leader Graham Watson that MEPs should meet every week after the European Commission's gathering and discuss the issues of the day.

He is also against calling for a single seat for the parliament and undertaking other internal parliament reforms, prompting Mr Bonde to say the pro-reform forces should have joined together and presented a candidate who would be a real challenge to the German Brussels veteran.