EPP picks German conservative Weber as candidate for European Commission president

German conservative politician Manfred Weber has won the race to lead the European Union’s center-right parties into key EU elections in May. Weber was endorsed with 492 of 619 valid votes on Thursday at a European People’s Party Congress in Helsinki, ahead of former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb, AP reports. The 46-year-old Bavarian conservative will also be the candidate of the EPP to be the next president of the European Commission. The EPP is the most powerful group in the European Parliament. The EU’s executive arm proposes and enforces the bloc’s laws. The current presidents of the EU commission, parliament and council are EPP members. All EU leaders must choose the next commission chief and Weber is not guaranteed to get the job. Germans hold many senior EU positions.