Manfred Weber anoints Spanish MEP as second-in-command at the EPP

The center-right European People’s Party President Manfred Weber, who is cruising toward reelection, announced he would nominate Spain’s People’s Party European lawmaker Dolors Montserrat as secretary-general of the EPP.

Weber called Montserrat, the first woman to hold the role, a seasoned politician who symbolized a “younger” and “modern” party. “This is what I see as the EPP of tomorrow,” the German conservative said.

With Montserrat, Weber, who also runs the EPP group in the European Parliament, will be able to further centralize power. Top leadership of the party will now be composed of sitting MEPs instead of national party officials, as was traditionally the case.

Montserrat will likely keep her other jobs as head of delegation of Spain’s People’s Party and the EPP group vice chair in Parliament, while taking on the extra full-time job as secretary-general.

Weber has routinely placed key allies from the Parliament in top positions, including French MEP François-Xavier Bellamy as treasurer and former Belgian MEP Tom Vandenkendelaere as his chief of staff. He has sidelined opponents such as his current, and outgoing, Secretary-General Thanasis Bakolas, who has previously openly challenged him.

The EPP, the most powerful European party dominating the EU’s policymaking institutions, is undergoing an internal job reshuffle and governing bodies’ reform, as it battles internal divisions following the party’s rightward shift since June’s EU election.

The president and the secretary-general will be formally elected during a party congress in Valencia on April 29-30.

Weber loyalists, such as Romanian lawmaker Siegfried Mureșan, called Montserrat a good choice.

“She is a really good politician and has a long career in Spanish politics, also growing within [the] EPP,” said Mureșan.

Others called it “a surprising choice.”

“When will she have time to run the party?” said an EPP official, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about internal party matters.

Weber on Wednesday told reporters that the new secretary-general role will be less administrative and more political, easing the workload for Montserrat.

`She will “be the second face of the European People’s Party next to me representing us …replacing me also in events [Europe]-wide when we have party conventions,” he said.

Montserrat did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication.

“Fits the frame of combining seven jobs and seven salaries at the same time,” quipped a second EPP official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “Just as the big boss likes it,” the official added, referring to Weber’s double salary as party president and parliamentary group chair.

Delegates will elect the party’s 10 new vice presidents at the Valencia conference. Candidates floated include Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo and Austria’s European Commissioner Magnus Brunner.

This story has been updated to correct François-Xavier Bellamy’s name.