Brief van Marnix van Rij naar Manfred Weber ter ondersteuning van Esther de Lange als EPP kandidaat voor het voorzitterschap van het Europees Parlement

Dear Mr Weber,
Dear Chairman,

With this letter, we, party chairs of the EPP member parties of the low countries, would like to extend our support to the candidature of Esther de Lange for the nomination as EPP Group candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament. 

Having worked closely with Esther over a period spanning almost two decades, we are convinced she is the right candidate for the job. She has shown to be a fair, dedicated and knowledgeable chair in both EPP and EPP Group working groups with respect for the diversity of opinions within our political family, bringing together different viewpoints and setting up the party and the group for success. Her ability to find compromises that reflect our christian democratic and centre-right values and bring onboard our entire EPP family is a skill not everyone is presented with. 

Even further, she has proven to work with colleagues across the aisle, delivering concrete legislative results in times of crisis and difficulties, without giving in on our core beliefs such as the rule of law and the guiding principles of our social market economy. We are sure she will continue to do so as President of the European Parliament. 

Precisely because she possesses these excellent qualities, we want to support her candidature and would like to strongly recommend the members of the EPP Group in the European Parliament to consider lending their support to Esther de Lange, both now in the internal process and in January during the European Parliamentary midterm elections.

Marnix van Rij
President of the Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA)

Joachim Coens
President of the Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V)

Maxime Prévot
President of the Centre démocrate humaniste (cdH)