For the first time, prior to the 2014 election presidential candidates were nominated. This enabled them to present election programmes and campaign for the position (the EPP campaign bus of Jean-Claude Juncker depicted).

The Spitzenkandidat process (German: lead candidate) is the method of linking the choice of President of the Commission to the outcome of the European Parliament elections, by having each major European Political Party (not to be confused with the Political groups of the European Parliament) nominating their candidate for Commission President prior to the Parliamentary elections. The Spitzenkandidat of the largest party (or the one able to secure the support of a majority coalition) would then have a mandate to assume the Commission Presidency. This process was first run in 2014, and its legitimacy was contested by some of the members of the European Council (with the UK and Hungarian Prime Ministers voting against the nomination of the EPP's Spitzenkandidat Jean Claude Juncker (see below)).

Background

According to the treaties, the president of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council. Until 2004, this nomination was based on an informal consensus for a common candidate. However, in 2004 the centre-right EPP rejected the consensus approach ahead of the European Council meeting, and pushed through its own candidate, Barroso.[1] The approach of national governments was to appoint the various high-profile jobs in EU institutions (European Council president, High Representative and so on) dividing them accordingly along geographic, political and gender lines. This also led to fairly low-profile figures in some cases, for it avoided candidates who had either made enemies of some national governments or who were seen as potentially challenging the council or certain member states.[2]

Article 17.7

Unease had built up around the secretive power play that was involved in these appointments, leading to a desire for a more democratic process.[2] At the end of 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force. It amended the appointment of the Commission President in the Treaty on European Union Article 17.7 to add the wording "taking into account the elections to the European Parliament", so that Article 17.7 now included the wording

Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission.

2014 election

In 2013, in preparation for the European election of 2014, Martin Schulz, then President of the European Parliament campaigned for European political parties to name lead candidates for the post of President of the European Commission; his own party group, the centre-left Party of European Socialists named Schulz as its lead candidate (German: Spitzenkandidat). The EPP held an election Congress in Dublin, where Jean-Claude Juncker beat his rival Michel Barnier and subsequently ran as the EPP lead candidate.[3] The European Left Party (GUE/NGL) chose Alexis Tsipras as candidate. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Green Party also selected lead candidates. The Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists did not name a candidate, objecting to the principle of Spitzenkandidaten and its "tenuous" basis in law.[4] The German term for lead candidates caught on, and they became known informally as Spitzenkandidaten.

The EPP won a relative majority (29%) in the 2014 election, and Jean-Claude Juncker, its lead candidate, was nominated by the European Council. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán were the only members of the council to object to his selection.[5]

Debates

European Commission presidency candidates have participated at the at Eurovision Debate, hosted and broadcast by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

The candidates standing onstage
European Commission presidency candidates at Eurovision Debate (May 2019). Left to right: Zahradil, Cué, Keller, Vestager, Timmermans, Weber

Criticism

Some commentators argued that wording of Article 17.7 obliging the European Council to take account of the results of the elections to the European Parliament does not necessarily mean that it should take heed of the party candidates for President, as such an interpretation would amount to a "power grab" at the expense of the European Council.[6] They argued that the European Council found itself taken off guard by how the process took off, and had backed themselves into a corner in having to approve the candidate of the largest party. Following the appointment, leaders vowed to review the process.[7]

On the other hand, it has also been pointed out that members of the European Council were themselves involved in choosing the Spitzenkandidat of their respective parties. For example, Jean-Claude Juncker was chosen as the EPP's candidate by the party congress in Dublin with the participation of EPP European Council members such as Angela Merkel, Mariano Rajoy and Enda Kenny.

Others have argued that the Spitzenkandidate process is still insufficiently democratic and needs to be replaced with a more direct system.[2] Some suggestions toward this have been electing the president via a transnational list, having a direct election,[8] and holding primary elections.[9] Parliamentary proposals to enact some of these in advance of the 2019 election have been opposed by some in the council.[10]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Janning, Josef (1 July 2014). "Five lessons from the "Spitzenkandidaten" European Parliament campaign". European Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Time for the Spitzenkandidat to die". Politico. 11 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Jean-Claude Juncker: Experience. Solidarity. Future". European People's Party. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "Syed Kamall: new leader of European Conservatives and Reformists". European Parliament. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "EU backs Juncker to head Commission in blow to UK". BBC News. 27 June 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Incerti, Marco (6 June 2014). "Never mind the Spitzenkandidaten: It's all about politics". CEPS Commentaries. Centre for European Policy Studies. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014. the result of a sneaky manoeuvre on the part of the European Parliament, which is ever eager to grab powers from the Heads of State and Government
  7. ↑ EU leaders to review 'Spitzenkandidat' process, EUObserver 24 June 2014
  8. ↑ Johannes Müller Gómez (9 June 2016). "Why and How the Spitzenkandidaten Procedure Should be Further Developed". EUvisions. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Why Europe needs US-style primaries Archived 2 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Politico 20 December 2017
  10. ↑ "Presidency non-paper" (PDF). Sven Giegold. 20 April 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
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