German politician Manfred Weber becomes first to throw his hat into ring to become next European commission president

The 2019 European elections will be dominated by identity politics, according to the German politician who became the first to throw his hat into the ring to become the next president of the European commission.

Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, fired the starting gun on the EU’s race for top jobs as he announced his hopes of succeeding Jean-Claude Juncker.

Launching his campaign, Weber said Europe was at a turning point, with its values being challenged from internal and external forces. Weber, a Christian Democrat who lives in a small village in socially conservative Bavaria, has previously described Christianity as “the soul of Europe” and his EPP called for a ban on wearing the full-face veil in public.

“Identity will be one of the dominant issues for the campaign,” said Weber, speaking to a group of European newspapers in his first interview since declaring his candidacy. “There is a European way of life, a European identity,” he said. Asked to defined Europe’s way of life he focused on secular values, listing democracy, the rule of law, the social market economy, gender equality, press freedom and separation of church and state.

With Europe’s traditional parties facing a challenge from anti-EU rightwingers, including the Alternative für Deutschland and the Front National, Weber said the 2019 elections would be a “historical decision for the future of this continent. It will not be anymore a side event.”

But he faces numerous obstacles in his path to the top job. An MEP for 14 years, who is unknown outside Brussels, Weber would be the first commission president since Jacques Delors not to have served as leader of an EU country. He has never served as a government minister.

He hopes to win the nomination of the European People’s party at its congress in mid-November. In 2014 an agreement between the EPP and the Socialists, the two largest groups, to run lead candidates (spitzenkandidaten) for the commission presidency, propelled Juncker to the top.

The new commission president will take over from Juncker in autumn 2019, following elections in May. Traditionally, the commission president has been chosen by EU leaders, but in 2014 they were outmanoeuvred by the European parliament’s spitzenkandidaten process and reluctantly accepted Juncker.

It is far from certain EU leaders would accept this parliamentary fait accompli twice, especially if the centre-right and centre-left lose seats.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, hopes to create a Europe-wide version of his centrist La République en Marche party, adding to uncertainty about the outcome.

Merkel’s dislike of the spitzenkandidaten system seemed evident in her lukewarm endorsement for her political ally. She noted there were many steps before Weber could become the next European commission president.

To win the EPP nomination, Weber may face competition from Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, who lost to Juncker in 2014, or Alexander Stubb, a former prime minister of Finland. Neither has declared if they will run.

While Weber portrays himself as a values candidate, it is not clear how he would broker compromises on thorny issues that have divided the EU, such as migration. He would be very sensitive to countries opposed to accepting refugees and migrants, such as Hungary and Poland.

Asked about the EU’s long-stalled migration reforms, he said: “They don’t want to have a Molenbeek area like we have here in Brussels in Budapest, Warsaw or wherever,” he said, referring to the Brussels neighbourhood that has been stereotyped as a haven for extremists, after it emerged the plotters of the Paris attacks had lived there.

Weber’s claim to represent European values will face a test next Wednesday, when the European parliament votes on whether Hungary is in breach of democratic values. Weber has been accused of protecting the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, but he insisted it was better to keep Hungary in the group. “The starting point of Brexit was the decision of David Cameron to leave the EPP group … I don’t want to see the same happening with the east of Europe.”