New European Parliament Structure Taking Shape
Around half the 751 MEPs are new, with Estonia reelecting two (Indrek Tarand and Tunne Kelam) out of six previous members, which was always going to be likely as three of the previous MEPs left their party while in office in the past five years.
Greece did not reelect any of its MEPs (21 seats) while the figure for Germany (96 seats) was at the other end of the spectrum, with 70 percent of the MEPs reelected.
The Socialists & Democrats faction, including Estonia's Marju Lauristin (Social Democrats) are likely to name the next head of the Parliament, receiving the backing of the largest party, the center-right European People's Party, including IRL's Tunne Kelam, ERR radio reported on Thursday.
The People's Party want Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, as the new European Commission President in return.
A faction of more radical right-wing and anti-EU parties failed to materialize, although any such union would have had no Estonian MEPs.
Independent Indrek Tarand is part of the Greens-European Free Alliance, which won 50 seats, while the two Reform Party and one Center Party MEP are all part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats.