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 for '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).
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.
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] After negotiations with other parties (and their corresponding political Groups in the European Parliament), Juncker was duly elected as Commission President by the Parliament in July 2014 by 422 votes to 250.
2019 election
European political parties again put forward their candidates for Commission President ahead of the elections and debates were held among them. The EPP nominated the leader of their Group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber. The PES put forward the Vice President of the outgoing European Commission, Frans Timmermans. Other parties also put forward candidates, including the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists who had declined to do so in the previous elections.
The EPP again won the most seats in the elections, but Weber was unable to secure support from other parties. Timmermans seemed more likely to build a coalition of cross-party support. The most senior EPP head of government, Merkel, at first accepted that it should be Timmermans on the margins of the G20 summit in Osaka on 28-29 June, but a number of other EPP leaders did not follow her. It took two meetings of the European Council to agree on who to propose to the European Parliament. Negotiations within the European Council were on a party-to-party basis (the Croatian and Latvian Prime Ministers led the negotiations for the EPP, the Spanish and Portuguese Prime Ministers for the Socialists, and the Belgian and Dutch Prime Ministers for the Liberals).
Agreement was eventually reached on a compromise candidate for Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen (EPP). The PES was compensated by Timmermans becoming First Vice President able to choose his own portfolio and Josep Borrell becoming High Representative for Foreign Affairs, and the Liberals (whose support was now necessary as the EPP and the socialists no longer had a majority together in the EP) by Charles Michel becoming President of the European Council.
Despite misgivings among some of the Socialist MEPs, the European Parliament elected von der Leyen in July 2019 by 383 votes to 327. Given that the treaty requires a majority of component members of the Parliament (i.e. abstentions and absences effectively count against) to support the President, she was elected with only 9 votes above that threshold (of, at the time, 374 votes).
2024 election
Most European Political parties have again decided to put forward Spitzenkandidates. The EPP has nominated Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as Commission President. The PES has nominated Nicolas Schmit, the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights. The Greens have nominated Terry Reintke MEP and Bas Eickhout MEP. Other parties have yet to decide.
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]
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