EPP parliamentarians support Jean-Claude Juncker

EPP parliamentarians from different Member States participating at the COSAC meeting organised by the Greek Presidency of the European Union have expressed their support for Jean-Claude Juncker to become the next President of the European Commission.

Under the leadership of Carlos Casini MEP and Elmar Brok MEP, European and national parliamentarians from the EPP political family underlined the obligation to respect the democratic vote of the European citizens.

Elmar Brok MEP said: "The EPP, in national parliaments and the European Parliament, support the idea of European citizens having a say in the election of the President of the European Commission through the European elections to the European Parliament, as clearly stated in the Lisbon Treaty."

Carlo Casini MEP underlined the importance of closing the gap between EU and its citizens: "The objective of getting citizens closer to Europe - also through the nomination of the Commission President candidate - would not be reached if the will of the majority of citizens is not respected. On the contrary, this would widen the citizens’ feeling of distance from Europe which constitutes a non-negligible aspect of the democratic deficit."