German Socialist Martin Schulz Re-Elected as European Parliament President

European lawmakers on Tuesday elected German Socialist Martin Schulz to another 2½ year term as president of the European Parliament during the body’s first session, after elections that swept dozens of new anti-European Union lawmakers into the parliament.

During the session, members of the euroskeptic U.K. Independence Party turned their backs on the EU flag as an orchestra struck up the EU anthem, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
Mr. Schulz, an ardent EU supporter from a German town near the border with France, the Netherlands and Belgium, was the Socialists’ candidate to be president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, during the campaign. But the center-right European People’s Party won the most seats in the election, helping push the EPP candidate, former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, into the lead for the commission presidency.
EU leaders last week nominated Mr. Juncker for the position, over the opposition of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. He must still be approved by the parliament in a secret ballot, in a vote expected to take place later this month.
After Mr. Schulz’s term is over, either a member of the EPP or the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is expected to become president of the parliament.
Several of the bloc’s other top spots are up for grabs: presidency of the European Council and the EU’s foreign policy chief. While a socialist—possibly Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt —was expected to become council president, a senior European diplomat said some leaders have recently voiced support for having a member of the EPP, or a liberal such as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in the position.