An opportunity for Europe. The three main candidates to be president of the European Commission are people of unquestionable value, who have a good mastery of Community issues. I even have the impression that they share mutual appreciation for each other - even if their political affiliations separate them. Jean-Claude Juncker for the EPP, Martin Schulz for the Socialists, and Guy Verhofstadt for the Liberals - three people passionate about European construction, who are able to crush the few opponents of European unity and others who support a return to national autonomy.
Why recall a situation that is already well-known? In order to underline that these three candidates are needed - because they represent the main political forces backing European unity in the face of fashionable eurosceptics. One will preside over the European Commission - but the other two will also have important roles. The electoral campaign will allow them to become better known, and this is positive because people need faces. Let me leave aside the legal dispute as to how far the European Council (the institution with ultimate responsibility for appointing the president of the Commission) is bound by the result of the elections or is free to choose. This is not the crucial point. The important thing is that Jean-Claude Juncker, Martin Schulz and Guy Verhofstadt are all top notch in public opinion. They each have their individual personalities and convictions, but each is ready to take on European responsibilities which, at the current time, are not always handled by people with the merits, good qualities and autonomy of Juncker, Schulz and Verhofstadt.
And the citizens will be able to choose in full knowledge of the facts because each of the three candidates has openly and clearly made his intentions and his projects widely known.
Small gap. Observers and opinion polls underline that, in fact, two groups are vying for the top position: (a) the EPP, the centre party, with its extensions both towards the left and towards the moderate right; (b) the Socialist Party, likewise with thrusts towards the extreme left or towards the centre. According to the latest opinion polls, the gap is small: 212 seats for the EPP, 209 for the Socialists (see EUROPE 11079). These opinion polls will continue to go up and down, and the uncertainty will go on right up until 25 May. Alongside this, the Liberal group - the third party advocating more European unity - could obtain 76 seats. Other variations will follow, right up to when they can be published.
The tone of the electoral campaigns is high - at least when the leaders have their say. Jean-Claude Juncker has often asserted that his objective is that of presiding over the European Commission, and not the European Council. Guy Verhofstadt's position is complicated because the opinion polls indicate that, despite his progress, he will not be the winner. That's why he has set out his programme at length, without holding back - including the aspects that could cause him difficulty. For example, he has spoken out for a single seat of the European Parliament in Brussels, thus doing away with the famous trips to Strasbourg which weigh heavily on EU expenditure and complicate parliamentary activity. At the same time, he has presented a real Liberal programme in 15 points, which is very ambitious and detailed, and includes a European Energy Community and the European Commission being organised in hubs.
For the new phase. Beyond their different political leanings, the pro-European political forces will be able to crush the opposing tendencies, which in the meantime are getting organised. Marine Le Pen has found allies in a few member states - allies with whom she will be able to form a political group within the European Parliament, the goal of which will be to demolish the Community project by re-establishing national autonomies.
Nevertheless, the forces in favour of united Europe will - while respecting their different tendencies - be able to give rise to a new phase in European construction, overcoming this scepticism which is oh so fashionable.
London doesn't agree. David Lidington, the UK minister for European Affairs, spoke in Brussels on Tuesday and rejected the role of the European Parliament in nominating a new president of the European Commission, saying that this is a decision reserved for the European Council. In Lidington's view, the result of the upcoming elections should not influence the nomination of the new president of the Commission.
This British position has not drawn much attention (it was expressed at the European Policy Centre) but it did not escape coverage in EUROPE 11078. Lidington also called for the EU's democratic deficit to be corrected by giving each national parliament the ability to block any European Commission proposal that it considered inappropriate. Let's not forget that a national referendum in 2017 will decide if London remains in the EU. And on the Continent, we should not hang around for their decision. (FR)