A candidate to lead EPP, Manfred Weber of Germany delivers his speech at the European People's Party (EPP) congress in Helsinki, November 8, 2018. Lehtikuva/Markku Ulander via REUTERS

HELSINKI (Reuters) - German EU lawmaker Manfred Weber won the backing of Europe’s center-right parties on Thursday to stand in the race to become European Commission president next year.

Weber beat former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb to become the European People’s Party’s (EPP) top candidate in the European Parliament elections next May, making him frontrunner for the EU’s most influential job, the head of the bloc’s executive overseeing laws and trade deals.