2014 ELECTIONS : DAUL TO RUN FOR EP PRESIDENCY.

Joseph Daul (France), president of the EPP group in the European Parliament, has revealed to Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace that he wishes to stand in the European elections in May 2014, "and I'm even standing for election as president of the European Parliament," he said. The message must of course be taken in context. Rumour has it that the list for the East of France, which he won in 2004 and 2009, might be headed by Nadine Morano, a former minister under ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy defeated in the legislative elections in 2012, and whom the UMP would like to guarantee a term.

But he is not the only French member of the EPP with this ambition. Commissioner Michel Barnier, who recently teamed up with a collaborator specifically to prepare for the post-2014 period, also has his eyes set on the presidency of the assembly. He is not, however, popular with Germany. The Christian Social Union (CSU), notably, is opposed to his recent proposal on the concessions directive and...