Fighting the far right, continuing and completing the Green Deal by extending its social dimension, strengthening the continent's industry through a vast financing plan: These are the priorities of the European Socialists for the Community elections to be held from June 6 to 9. On January 18, in Rome, the Socialists appointed Nicolas Schmit to embody their program, many of whose measures have yet to be defined. Should they win the election, he will be their candidate for the Commission presidency.

Unknown to the general public, the discreet 70-year-old Luxembourger has made a name for himself in Brussels since 2019 as Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, with several successes to his credit, most recently the directive on platform workers, which should enable certain self-employed workers to be reclassified as permanent employees. The text has just been adopted.

He remains far less visible in Europe than his liberal colleague Thierry Breton or the current Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, who is standing as a candidate to succeed him on the European People's Party (EPP) ticket. "But before she was appointed, who knew her?" he said in an interview with Le Monde. "The campaign for the European elections has only just begun, and Europeans will get to know me." And, as his entourage pointed out, as this election is organized in each country, it's more the national lead candidates who count, like Raphaël Glucksmann, who leads the Socialist and Place Publique list in France, with much more media coverage.

The Luxembourger is stepping up his rallies to raise his profile across Europe, but the task remains complicated for the Party of European Socialists that has been stagnating in the polls in recent months, in second place behind the EPP. According to Europe Elects, an NGO that compiles opinion polls, Schmit's group can expect around 140 seats, some 15 fewer than in 2019.

While voting intentions for the PS list in France have risen to around 11%, almost twice as high as in 2019, Olaf Scholz's SPD, which traditionally provides a large number of Socialist MEPs, is struggling, while in Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands, the Socialists are also encountering difficulties. Spain's Pedro Sanchez's PSOE is still likely to be the largest contingent of Socialist MEPs in Strasbourg. "Polls are polls, elections are elections," said Schmit. "We'll see on the evening of June 9. To catch up with the party currently in the lead, we need to win one or two seats per country. It's feasible."

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