The newly elected Vice-President replaces Eva Kaili as the fifth VP in the Parliament’s Bureau. Kaili was arrested on money laundering and corruption charges allegedly involving Qatar
On Wednesday, in a secret vote, Marc Angel received an absolute majority of votes cast and was elected to the office of European Parliament Vice-President, following two rounds of voting.
Angel is a member of the Socialists and Democrats Group to which Kaili also belonged before she was suspended.
The Luxembourg MEP required two rounds of voting to see off the challenge from the two other contenders for the role, the French Green candidate Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield and Italy’s Annalisa Tardino, a member of the right-wing populist Identity and Democracy faction.
Angel received 307 of the 590 votes cast in the second round, ahead of Tardino on 185 and Delbos-Corfield on 98.
Angel, who is 59, was widely expected to secure the appointment as a result of a previous deals between the parliament’s factions, under which the Socialists and Democrats Group would hold five of the 14 vice-presidencies – a largely ceremonial role.
Angel is a former teacher who, in 1994, became a councillor for the City of Luxembourg – a position he held until 2020 – and was elected to Luxembourg’s parliament in 2004. A member of the centre-left LSAP party, he resigned as a national lawmaker in 2019 when he was elected to the EU Parliament.
