Amid an increasingly uncertain competition for the European Parliament presidency, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker still hopes to preserve some form of the "grand coalition" that has provided a careful balance for EU policymaking, a senior EU official said Thursday.

That coalition, anchored by a power-sharing accord that was supposed to pass the Parliament presidency to the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), disintegrated this week. Gianni Pittella, the leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), said he was abandoning the deal and seeking the presidency, and in any event would no longer be part of a bloc with the EPP.

However, Juncker, a member of the EPP whose term runs through 2019, is not ready to give up on the idea. “Juncker still believes in maintaining the G5,” the official said, referring to the power trust of Juncker, Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans, outgoing Parliament President Martin Schulz, who is a member of the S&D, Manfred Weber, the EPP group leader, and Pittella.

Resurrecting the coalition, however, seems like a long shot.

As Brussels struggled Thursday to adjust to the fast-shifting landscape, some S&D MEPs loudly cheered Pittella’s decision, saying the alliance between Juncker and Schulz, who are old friends, had left them feeling like little more than marionettes. They said they would rather function as a real opposition than control a presidency that did not aggressively champion Social Democratic priorities.

“It is a new phase for us and a good change of path,” said Italian MEP Sergio Cofferati. “I have always been opposed to this privileged relationship with the EPP.”

Cofferati called on S&D leaders to “find convergence” in a new alliance “with parties we share views with,” including the Greens and the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL). “In traditional parliaments, you have the government and the opposition,” he said. “We don’t have it here.”

Other S&D members said they were similarly thrilled at the prospect that their left-wing bloc would reassert influence in the 751-member Parliament.

“We are overjoyed because we have been working for this since the beginning of the mandate,” said French MEP Isabelle Thomas. She said the alliance between Schulz and Juncker had provided “paralyzing management.” And, in the end, she said, the S&D had received “only crumbs.”

“Schulz’s departure opens a great opportunity to clarify things, restore our identity and it offers an alternative to Juncker’s proposals,” Thomas said.

“The problem with Schulz is that it was all about him, and his career,” an S&D official said. “He would sometimes torpedo the group’s demands, or deny our legitimate demands.” The official cited Schulz’s efforts on landmark trade deals like the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States. By postponing the vote on TTIP in June 2015 after divisions simmered in the S&D group, Schulz infuriated many colleagues who felt he had acted without consulting them.

“The group must be better heard in the Parliament,” the official added.

Schulz's goodbye gift

If some S&D MEPs are eager for a fresh start, they may face one last challenge before Schulz steps down to return to Germany and run for a seat in the Bundestag.

As a parting gesture, he is expected to try to seal an “inter-institutional agreement” with the Commission and the Council, laying out legislative priorities for the year to come. While a new Parliament president could push to change the agenda, the Commission and the Council could pressure individual MEPs to stick to the agreed-upon program.

While the S&D cheered, Pittella’s move drew criticism from other groups, including the EPP. On Thursday, EPP leader Weber defended the need for a coalition with the S&D to get legislation adopted.

“To limit the influence of extremists in the European Parliament, there is no alternative to cooperation between the EPP and the S&D groups,” Weber said. “We are ready to continue this cooperation. It worked very well during the vote on the EU budget today, for example."

On Thursday, Weber confirmed that he would not run for the presidency. Several members of the group have announced they are mounting campaigns for the post, with a primary to be held next week.

While the situation in Parliament seems unpredictable, there was also a sense that the disorganization was a refreshing sign of democracy in action.

Some MEPs said the focus should shift away from internal party dynamics to a debate over policy priorities, and that an open contest was preferable to yet another backroom deal.

“We are prioritizing party logics at the detriment of political substance,” said French MEP Sylvie Goulard, a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) who had tried to launch her own bid for the presidency, but was blocked by her group’s leader, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt.

“We should rather have a debate on the role we want to give to the Parliament,” Goulard said.