The EPP will once again have a political Secretary General. At the congress in Valencia at the end of April, Catalan-born Dolors Montserrat, EPP Group Vice-President in the European Parliament, is to be elected Secretary General of the party by the delegates. Party leader Manfred Weber has proposed the 51-year-old lawyer. She is to succeed Thanasis Bakolas, who has been full-time Secretary General for three years. The relationship between party leader Weber and his most important employee in the party has recently been strained.