Euro MPs elect German as speaker

Mr Poettering is one of the veterans of the European parliament

The European parliament has elected a German conservative, Hans-Gert Poettering, as its new president.

Mr Poettering, a 61-year-old Christian Democrat, replaces the Spanish Socialist Josep Borrell.

He was elected under a deal by which the Socialist bloc and centre-right bloc took it in turns to share the current five-year term.

He won in the first round, with 450 votes out of the 689 counted. He defeated three rivals.

The other contenders were: Green Italian MEP Monica Frassoni, Danish Eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde and Francis Wurtz, a member of the European United Left group.

Mr Poettering has been a member of the parliament since it was first directly elected in 1979.

The parliament in Strasbourg formally welcomed 35 Romanian and 18 Bulgarian MEPs on Monday - bringing its total to 785 - for the first plenary session since they joined the EU on 1 January.

The new MEPs have been appointed by their national parliaments and will keep their seats until European elections in the two countries later in the year.