Martin Schulz has quit as speaker of the European Parliament to take up his old job as leader of the Socialists and Democrats.<br /><br />But he may not be there for long; the one-time bookseller wants to join the European Commission.<br /><br />“I want to be a part of the package of different posts. And where I at the end can bring in the influence of social democracy that is a question of the next days,” said Schulz. <br /><br />The German MEP had presented himself as a candidate for the European Commission presidency.<br /><br />But the Socialist group finished second behind the centre-right EPP, which picked former Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker as its preferred candidate.<br /><br />German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democrats are members of the EPP, backs Jean-Claude Juncker’s bid to be the next president of the European Commission.<br /><br />And Schulz is also counting on support from Berlin in his fight to land a top portfolio at the EU executive.<br /><br />His hand may be strengthened by the fact that he is a member of Germany’s Social Democrats, Merkel’s coalition partners.<br /><br />MEPs must approve the names to take over at the next European Commission in a secret ballot.<br /><br />They say that EU rules agreed in 2009 mean that the ‘winning party’ in the European elections should name who takes over as president.<br /><br />But Britain’s David Cameron has been leading the charge against the process, branding it as “backdoor power grab.”
