(Strasburg) “I made my decision: I will not run for third mandate as president of the European Parliament”: said German EU President Martin Schulz this morning, the current leader of the Assembly in Strasburg with his second mandate in a row. The reason for that choice was immediately made known by Schulz himself: “Next year, I will run in the elections of the Bundestag – the German parliament – as top SPD candidate in North Rhine-Westphalia”. Schulz said that “it was not easy to take that decision”. “I will commit myself – he immediately added – for defending and developing the European project, as usual. EU integration is actually one of the greatest successes for our contemporary civilisation”. The public declaration was probably due to the fact that there had been rumours about the political future of the President; someone said he would have been interested in the third mandate. Then, Schulz stated the need to go on making politics to defend the interests of European peoples, “and to improve the daily life of the people”; he thanked MEPs for trusting him, the staff of the European Parliament, and President of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Then, he reminded us the special weight and role of Germany for the future of Europe, for which Schulz promised to commit himself in Berlin, too.