On Monday, European elections were the topic of the day with current EU Commissioner Nicolas Schmit invited for an interview with RTL.
"I will not be on the LSAP's list for the European elections," the EU Commissioner announced during the interview.
According to Schmit, the LSAP has a natural candidate in the Vice President of the European Parliament Marc Angel who is doing a formidable job in the Parliament and hopes to continue doing what he loves. He does not wish to stand in Angel's way.
A woman must stand next to Marc Angel
However, Schmit is under the strong conviction that a woman should stand beside Marc Angel as co-lead candidate, even if the Commissioner kept his cards close to his chest on who that could possibly be. It certainly will not be Paulette Lenert, as she recently removed herself from the potential list of candidates.
Nicolas Schmit is also highly convinced that the LSAP will achieve a much better score than previous years and would even be able to secure a second seat.
The decision not to run on the LSAP's electoral list has nothing to do with his election result in 2019, according to Nicolas Schmit. At the time, the LSAP politician came second with 39.000 votes. The then CSV MEP Christophe Hansen received the highest number of votes with over 62.000 votes. However, these figures are slightly distorted as the CSV in fact received significantly more list votes than the LSAP.
Who will PM Luc Frieden nominate as European Commissioner?
However, this certainly does not mean it is the end of the road for Nicolas Schmit's run in European politics. Through his nomination as the lead candidate for the European Socialists, the second largest party in the European Parliament, Schmit will advocate for the top job in the European Commission, the Presidency of the Commission.
In the event that the Socialists would achieve a good score, Prime Minister Luc Frieden would face a choice, either to send Nicolas Schmit with a good position in the EU Commission to Brussels or Christophe Hansen, who was the designated next EU Commissioner. Nicolas Schmit does not want to speculate on such questions, but he knows that Luc Frieden is a strong European and understands the European dimension of the process. "I have great confidence in Mr. Frieden in this regard," said the guest.
"Nicolas Who?"
In the international press scene, Nicolas Schmit's nomination caused a bit of a stir as the Socialist was not well known. Politico's EU branch even titled their news headline regarding Schmit's nomination as "Nicolas Who?" However, the EU Commissioner is not phased.
For Schmit, the role of the so-called Spitzenkandidat is very special and gives the Commission nomination process a European dimension. In the last 5 years, he has fully committed himself to a more social Europe and that has been recognised in many countries. Social policies such as the minimum wage are more important than ever before. Especially in these times of great upheaval, the social dimension of the European Union is fundamentally important.
Nicolas Schmit does not find the Spitzenkandidat system to be outdated, but he does think something is missing. He endorses French President Macron's proposal to move towards transnational lists.
European elections in Luxembourg will be taking place on Sunday, June 9 2024.
Rendez-vous fir den Interview mam Invité vun der Redaktioun all Dag vu méindes bis freides um 10 op 8 op RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg an am Livestream och op RTL.lu an an der App (Audio a Video). Op RTL.lu an op RTL Play ass d'Emissioun dono och am Replay ze fannen.
