Socialists pick Nicolas Schmit to lead EU election campaign

BRUSSELS — Luxembourg’s Nicolas Schmit is running to become the center-left European Socialists’ lead candidate for the EU election, the party announced Thursday.

Schmit, the 70-year-old EU commissioner for jobs and social rights, is the only candidate and presumably will become the Socialists’ lead candidate, or the so-called Spitzenkandidat.

He will be officially elected at the Socialists’ election congress in Rome on March 2, 2024, the party of European Socialists (PES) said in a press release.