EVEN BY THE standards of the Zappeion, a neoclassical palace in Athens once used for Olympic fencing matches, it was an extravagant affair. Over footage of space rockets and mountain ranges a voice crooned, in English: "A human being is extraordinary, a perfect machine that can achieve it all." Drummers beat on four giant drums, soaring music echoed off the columns and the name "WEber" flashed up on a screen, transforming into "The power of WE". Manfred Weber bounded onto the stage and launched his programme for Europe, which included a European FBI, ending the eu's accession talks with Turkey and new efforts to find a cure for cancer. It all felt rather silly. Mr Weber is the Spitzenkandidat or "lead candidate" of the European People's Party (epp), the group of European centre-right parties, for the European Parliament elections that will be held between May 23rd and the 26th. Under a system introduced last time, in 2014, the Spitzenkandidat of the largest group becomes the president of the European Commission, the eu's executive. That is likely to remain the epp. But some national leaders dislike this process and want to discontinue it. Mr Weber, a soft-spoken man with no executive experience, is barely known. A poll in his native Germany shows that only 26% of voters even there have heard of him.
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