European Greens pick favorites for European Commission president

Party plays it safe with German and Dutch candidates pushing for fair taxation and trade.

BERLIN — The European Greens picked Germany’s Ska Keller and Dutchman Bas Eickhout as co-candidates for European Commission president, at the party’s congress Saturday, making them the faces of the party’s campaign in the May 2019 European election.

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Keller finished first, securing more than 50 percent support in the second round of voting. Eickhout then defeated Belgian senator and gynecology professor Petra De Sutter, winning 62 percent support in a run-off for the second slot. Keller and Eickhout are both members of the European Parliament

The three candidates ran on a broadly similar platform, with Eickhout pushing for work on fairer taxation and Keller calling for an industrial transformation in Europe during a conflict-free candidate debate at the party congress in Berlin, Friday night.

Keller is a veteran of the 2014 campaign for European Commission president where she burst onto the European political scene as the face of Green politics in televised leaders’ debates. Eickhout has been an MEP since 2009 and is leader of the GroenLinks delegation in the European Parliament.

“We have a battle to fight,” said Keller just after the vote. “We know that the EU is far from perfect” Keller said. She added that Greens “want to make Europe more ecological, social and democratic so that it can fulfil its promises.”

Bas Eickhout said: “It’s time for change. I stand for a strong Europe, that has to be for the people who live and work here. A Europe that takes action against climate change. That’s the Europe I want to work for.

“For too long, Europe has been in the grip of multinationals that seek profit, growth and competition above all else. This has been at the expense of a social Europe, one that invests in people and welcomes values everyone’s participation.”

The Greens, and affiliated Free Alliance members, currently have 52 seats in the Parliament, around 7 percent of the total.

POLITICO’s seat projection estimates that number will fall to around 45 following the bloc-wide ballot, largely thanks to six U.K. MEPs from the Green and Scottish National parties leaving the Parliament.

“I always prefer to campaign outside” of political party event said Eickhout. “We are just the talking heads of the green wave. We will push forward. This will be a campaign for Europe, but not for or against it, but what kind of Europe we want.”