a) vote for the deal as agreed by Messrs Verhofstadt and Rehn;
b) vote against it
c) abstain
Let's recap the various arguments. Firstly, for the deal. It is an inevitability that Verhofstadt will be the candidate, given that the two men have shaken hands on a deal, so giving him a proper, sizeable mandate demonstrates loyalty and commitment to him. Also, if the deal is rejected, what happens regarding a candidate? Would, under such circumstances, another candidate emerge, and would they be any more acceptable/capable? There is no obvious sign of a willing alternative that I am aware of, so they likelihood would be that either Verhofstadt would be chosen anyway, or that ALDE wouldn't have a candidate.
An argument for voting against the deal is that we've been told to do so by our Party leader. The reasons for doing so aren't entirely clear, but then Party loyalty doesn't always require good reasons. And, of course, the deal was done without our active involvement, so a vote against could indicate our displeasure.
So, why abstain? I suppose that an abstention would indicate that I'd rather see a contest and debate some of the issues that ebb and flow about the contest, about the future direction of ALDE, whilst not indicating a fundamental objection to Verhofstadt as a candidate.
Much to think about then, and not an entirely easy decision to make. So, I'd better get on and listen to the debate. I'm going to have to make my mind up at some point though...
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