Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1028264
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 SEPTEMBER 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It is this key difference that is separating party leaders, but also that impinges upon Mus- cat's success to seek a Europe- an posting: entering Macron's slipstream could be beneficial to his chances of the Council post. Macron's La République En Marche has already said it will not support any European po- litical group that backs the so- called Spitzenkandidat – the "favoured candidate" process that awards the European Commission presidency to the party that wins the most seats in the European Parliament election. But the S&D is avow- edly loyal to the concept. The centre-right European People's Party is likely to back the German MEP Manfred Weber, and is already poised to win the 2019 elections. The S&D's hopefuls are Commis- sioners Frans Timmermans and Maros Sefcovic. "In the last 2014 elections, it was a done deal between the two major parties, that after winning the race to become president of the EC – in this case Jean-Claude Juncker for the EPP – the centre-left would get to put in its own man as head of the European Coun- cil, in this case Donald Tusk," a source close to the EPP in Brussels told MaltaToday. In the coming election, there is a chance that the centre-left is eclipsed by the rising liberal- democrats. "Despite the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the Panama Papers, there is no doubt Muscat is still in the running for the post. When he meets socialists he is building good will. He has asked people for their support. He is seen as having the charisma that befits the role," the source, a centre- right ally, said. "The big question is wheth- er the S&D agree that their Spitzenkandidat, given their electoral chances in 2019, gets to be proposed for Council president. In that case, Muscat will have to reveal his hand." The disagreement over the Spitzenkandidat process inside the S&D is likely to feature in this week's meeting in Salz- burg. Macron's own party has already said it does not "wish to engage with anyone who would support the approach of a Spitzenkandidat", with Ma- cron's party CEO Christophe Castaner calling it "a real dem- ocratic anomaly". Castaner has already been working to forge a "progressive force" for the 2019 elections, taking on board Spain's cen- trist Ciudadanos party. But the S&D and its German leader Udo Bullman are loyal to the Spitzenkandidat. Which is why MaltaToday's sources said the major difference in opinion inside the S&D be- tween its northern and south- ern members, hints at Muscat's own plans to warm up to the French President. "Macron and Muscat enjoy a very strong personal relation- ship and a regular dialogue," a senior source in government said of the two leaders. "They are both centrists with a progressive agenda, coming from a centre-left base which has not prevented them from luring support from traditional conservative voters back at home. It is a well known fact that they share and discuss ideas ahead of 2019 elections in terms of a broad progressive alliance, as outlined by [Greek PM] Alexis Tsipras this week in Strasbourg, and institutional implications." MaltaToday's other source, a centre-right ally, pointed out that Muscat was "status- building" by proposing ad hoc solutions to immigration feuds together with Macron and Spanish centre-left ally Pedro Sanchez. "In Council conclu- sions on migration, the Ger- mans won crucial language on concerns with the 'secondary movements' of migrants, who register in one EU country and then cross into another. That's the kind of thing that hurts a country like Malta." But the government source refused suggestions that the migration deals were designed to benefit Muscat's chance of clinching Macron's favour for the post of Council president. "The immigration deals are a product of this relationship and their common belief in European solutions, which has proven more effective than iso- lationist attitudes adopted by others." NEWS PN approves candidates, PD leader to run for MEP THE Nationalist Party ap- proved a first round of seven candidates who will contest the European elections in May 2019. The candidates include in- cumbents Roberta Metsola, David Casa, and Francis Zam- mit Dimech, as well as new- comers Peter Agius, Dione Borg, Michael Briguglio, and Frank Psaila. Agius is currently a political advisor and speechwriter for European Parliament president Antonio Tajani. Borg has been a journalist with the PN's me- dia arm for 25 years. Briguglio, formerly a chair- person of Alternattiva Demokratika, is a sociologist and lecturer at the University of Malta. He is a PN councillor for Sliema. Frank Psaila is a for- mer PN official and lawyer who has worked in broadcasting on PN media. Democratic Party leader An- thony Buttigieg yesterday also announced he will resign the party leadership to run for MEP in 2019. Buttigieg's candidature was actually submitted to an inde- pendent board of scrutiny, the PD said, which interviewed Buttigieg and then passed on its report to the PD executive. The decision was unanimous and based, the PD said, on Buttigieg's "unassailable prin- ciples and vision for a Malta which is more free and more fair." In their statement, the PD described Buttigieg – who en- tered politics in 2017 – as "one of the last gentlemen in politics. The next leader will be elected after Buttigieg steps down as leader on 21 September. Macron alliance could force division inside socialist group Macron and Muscat enjoy a very strong personal relationship and a regular dialogue, according to a senior government source