Martin Schulz has launched a campaign to win wider support for his bid to succeed Jerzy Buzek as president of the European Parliament in January.

A political pact to share the presidency between the two largest groups, the S&D and the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), is supposed to guarantee Schulz, the leader of the S&D group, the position. The pact secured the presidency for the EPP’s Jerzy Buzek in 2009. Joseph Daul, the leader of the EPP, said last week (7 September) that his party would honour the deal. “For us, it’s fairly obvious,” said Daul.

Schulz received the backing for his candidacy from his 184-member S&D group during a closed-doors meeting on Tuesday evening. The German MEP said that he wanted to discuss his priorities in the coming weeks with all the political groups in a bid to get the broadest possible backing for his candidacy.

He said that central to his thinking was how the EU can “regain the confidence that we have lost from citizens”. He said he would work to make the Council of Ministers and the European Commission more accountable, to “make sure the democratic level is expanded”.

“It is part of the programme with which I will attempt to win over the confidence of colleagues in the other political groups,” he said.

Schulz has toned down his outspoken style in recent months, apparently to look more presidential.

S&D group sources confirmed that Schulz is putting together a team of advisers who will form the core of his cabinet, which would likely be headed by Markus Winkler, currently head of Schulz’s office.

A major priority will be improving the EU’s image with voters, a task that S&D sources said has been lacking under Buzek, who they say has focused too much on Poland and not enough on the rest of the EU. Boosting the profile of the Parliament’s president is another likely priority.

Parties critical of the deal admit that they are unlikely to muster enough votes to stop Schulz. “Quite frankly, we don’t think we are going to win a vote,” said Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-leader of the Greens, who added that it was unlikely his group would put forward an alternative.

Chris Davies, a UK Liberal MEP, said it was doubtful that his group would put forward a candidate, although he added that Schulz “needs a challenge”.

Group leadership

Schulz’s departure would free up the post of S&D group leader, which he has held for seven years. Stephen Hughes, a UK Labour MEP, launched his bid for the job in January. Austrian MEP Hannes Swoboda and French MEP Catherine Trautmann, a former mayor of Strasbourg, are expected to announce their leadership bids before mid-October.