Schulz elected EP President

German Socialist Martin Schulz has been elected President of the European Parliament.

Mr Schulz, who obtained 387 of the 670 votes, will lead the EP until the next European elections in June 2014.

He is replacing the European People’s Party’s Jerzy Buzek, who has steered the European Parliament since mid-2009.

Mr Schulz had supported Joseph Muscat in the election for PL leadership.

He had said: "The Malta Labour Party has a chance of being led by a man who has gained very important experience in European institutions and how to represent the specific interests of Malta, the smallest EU member state and, in doing so, influenced the Socialist Group."

A former librarian with a fiery temperament, Mr Schulz made his name in an altercation with Silvio Berlusconi.

The then Italian premier sparked a diplomatic spat between Rome and Berlin in 2003 when he said during a parliament debate that Schulz would be perfect in the film role of a "kapo", a prisoner who worked for the Nazis in concentration camps.

The bearded, bespectacled German politician had vexed the boisterous billionaire by raising questions over alleged conflicts of interest between Berlusconi's political role and his media empire.

Unknown in Europe and even in his home country before his run-in with Berlusconi, Schulz took the helm of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc in the European Parliament a year later.

He can express himself in French and English with ease, an asset in a 27-nation assembly of 736 lawmakers.