MEP Paulo Rangel managed this Wednesday to be elected treasurer of the European People’s Party, the European family that includes the PSD and the CDS. The Portuguese opposed the Czech Tomás Zdechovský, but was elected with 61% (314 votes) of the delegates present at the EPP Congress in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Rangel is no longer the vice president of the party, but he continues to play that role on the European Parliament bench. The EPP also changed president with the German Manfred Weber (CSU) succeeding Donald Tusk, having obtained 447 votes out of 502 as the only candidate.
In the closing speech of the Congress, the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, thanked the former President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, whom she referred to as someone who “fought for freedom and against the rule of law”. and she expressed his support for him to win the elections in his country and become Prime Minister of Poland again.
Von der Leyen also had a few words for Manfred Weber, who would have taken his place if the process of spitzenkandidat (in which the candidate of the most voted European party would be the President of the Commission). Von der Leyen thanked Weber for having stayed by his side “from the first moment”, despite the inconvenience of the entire process. At that moment, the realization focused on the face of Manfred Weber, who showed no smile or reaction.
Source: Observadora
