Liberal leaders meditating on Juncker

The Alliance of Democratics and Liberals for Europe, with its 64 MEPs, reaffirmed its status of third party of the European Parliament, yet Guy Verhofstadt cannot say he scored a success, especially in Italy.

Scelta Europea, supporting ALDE, got only 0.7 percent of the votes. “I think in Italy we got a terrible results,” said a lapidary Verhofstadt at the sides of the meeting with the other Liberal leaders before the European Council. The ALDE leader came several times in Italy, and before the election he said he was confident to get at least 4 percent of the orepreferences in our country.

The Vice President of the European Commission and Commissiore for the Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, who attended the meeting, said “I am very disappointed for the eurosceptic advance in some EU Member States, and I think we should all see it as a sign of citizens’ unsatisfaction.” Talking about the rumors indicating him as a candidate on which several political forces could agree, he said: “We already have a very calable candidate for the European Commission Presidency, and his name is Guy Verhofstadt.”

Liberals did not speak up on Juncker though. Moreover, if they all agree on joining forces with the EPP and the PES for fighting eurosceptics, they’ve been quite cautious so far. “We need to meet and establish a programme,” said the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, “then we will be able to indicate a name.”