Romanian MEP to run for the EP President position
A Romanian is racing for the European Parliament president position, next to Antonio Tajani, Gianni Pittella, Helga Stevens, Guy Verhofstadt, Eleonora Florenza, Jean Lambert, Piernicola Pedicini. The elections of the EP President due on Tuesday is by secret vote on ballot papers, with the winner having to obtain a score of 50 pc plus one. If no candidate is elected after three rounds, as surveys suggest it will happen, the candidates with most of the votes will join a fourth round when the president is elected by simple majority, meaning with the highest number of votes. In case of parity, the oldest candidate is elected.
Eight MEPs joined the race for the EP President seat, four Italians, two Belgians, a British lady and a Romanian, Laurentiu Rebega, vice-chair of the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group, who launched his candidature on January 11.
However, he is quite controversial. Born in 1976 in a small locality in Prahova county, he is the godson of ALDE co-chair Daniel Constantin and was criminally prosecuted in the case of money laundering and bribe taking at the Agriculture Ministry.
He graduated the Zootechny faculty within the Agronomy University in Bucharest and held the position of the president of the Student League. He has been MEP since 2014.
After reaching the EP on behalf of the Conservative Party, Rebega joined the populist group led by Marine Le Pen in July 2015 and he even managed a reunion that Le Pen held in Sinaia, Romania last year.
In Romania, he was vice-president of the Prahova county council during 2012-2014, director and manager of several agri companies from 2009 to 2102.