Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness has announced that she is running again this week for the position of Vice-President of the European Parliament.
Last month, the Midlands North-West MEP was defeated in her bid to become the EPP Group’s nomination to become President of the European Parliament.
The Parliament has 14 Vice-Presidents in total and McGuinness has already held one of those positions since she was re-elected to the Parliament in 2014.
McGuinness will find out today, January 18, if she is successful, when MEPs vote on the Vice Presidents in a secret ballot.
Meanwhile, MEPs voted on a new President to replace Martin Schulz who stepped down from the role after five years.
Antonio Tajani, the EPP candidate, had been tipped to win the presidential vote. Four candidates were in contention for the EPP nomination. The other two candidates were French MEP Alain Lamassoure and Slovenian MEP Alojz Peterle.
The first round of voting saw Tarjani receive 94 votes, McGuinness receive 57, Lamassoue receive 34 and Peterle with 17 votes.
However, Mairead McGuinness says winning and losing is part and parcel of politics. Speaking to Europarl Radio she said that she put herself forward for the position and came second.
“I’m very pleased to stand as a Vice President. I have great support in this house and that’s important.
“In terms of disappointment, I think in politics you don’t do disappointment, you accept the will of the people whether it’s in your political group or the will of the citizens and you get on with the job.”
The EPP Group is the largest in the European Parliament. It brings together centre and centre-right pro-European political forces from the Member States of the EU.