Faymann endorses Juncker for Commission president

In a blow to Martin Schulz, the centre-left chancellor of Austria has backed Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next president of the European Commission.

Werner Faymann, the centre-left chancellor of Austria, has endorsed Jean-Claude Juncker to be the next Commission president, according to the Austrian press.

OE24 quotes Faymann as saying that Juncker, the centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP) nominee to be the Commission president, should become Commission president because the EPP received the most votes in the election.

Faymann is the first centre-left politician to defect from Martin Schulz, the centre-left Party of European Socialists (PES) nominee to become Commission president, since the election. Schulz has not yet conceded to Juncker, saying he will see if a coalition with other groups is possible to form a mandate larger than the EPP. PES leaders are meeting in Brussels this afternoon ahead of tonight’s European Council summit.

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The EPP came first in the election with 213 MEPs, compared to 189 for the Socialists, according to the current count.

British Labour already refused to endorse Schulz ahead of the election, and Conservative British prime minister is said to be adamantly opposed to a Schulz presidency.