Spain’s PSOE forms working group ahead of EU elections; keeps name ‘secret’

Spain’s ruling Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) agreed on Monday to set up a federal electoral committee to coordinate its strategy for the European elections due on 9 June, although the formation did not reveal the name of its main candidate – a top job for which the favourite is Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera.

On Monday, the federal executive of the PSOE, the party of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, approved the creation of an “ad hoc” internal committee of 16 people ahead of the European elections.

The group includes the party’s Secretary for the organisation, Santos Cerdán, who will be in charge of coordinating the campaign, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported, while Finance Minister María Jesús Montero will be the coordinator of the party’s strategy for the EU elections.

However, despite expectations, the spokesperson for the party’s federal executive, Esther Peña, who is also a member of the “ad hoc” group, did not reveal the name of the PSOE’s main candidate, although she assured that it would be known “in the coming days” or “hours”.

Once the candidate has been proposed, the PSOE’s Federal Committee – the party’s highest governing body – will give the final green light to the party’s EU election list at a meeting scheduled for  27 April in Madrid.

Ribera is most likely to head the PSOE list, as she was initially the favourite of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and expressed an interest in being the main candidate and perhaps becoming a commissioner in the near future.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)

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