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Antonio Tajani (l) with his predecessor Martin Schulz (Photo: European Parliament)

Magazine

Parliament president: red-carpet mannequin or hot seat?

One of the tasks of the president of the European Parliament is to chair votes on new bills. Hans-Gert Pottering, who was president from 2007 to 2009, has candidly described this task as "a mental and physical effort".

"Sitting in a full plenary assembly and conducting votes swiftly and in due fashion demanded total concentration, and after voting had taken place I had invariably worked up a sweat," wrote Pottering, a centre-right German, in his autobiography, United for the Better: My...

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