Graham Watson MEP runs for European Parliament Presidency

Graham Watson ,leader of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) leader has announced his intention to run for President of the EU assembly. Watson has made the unprecedented move of adopting a public election campaign which he hopes will increase the overall transparency of the election process. He was elected to the assembly in 1994 as a Liberal Democrat member and is currently the South West of England and Gibraltar and as such is the longest serving group leader in the history of the European Parliament. Traditionally the Presidency of the Parliament has operated on a rotational agreement between the two largest political groups in Europe, the centre-right EPP-ED group and the Socialists. Watson has therefore called for an “ideological coalition” between the ALDE and one of the two major political groups as he believes this would be more effective in the resolution of the current economic crisis than the current system of technical agreements between the two largest groups.