The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, which will leave 73 seats empty at the European Parliament, is a genuine opportunity for those in favour of a European electoral constituency that would see MEPs elected from transnational lists in the European elections to be held between 23 and 26 May 2019.
The French authorities are on the move, trying to win over the member states to make changes to the electoral process at European level. At the highest political level, the French President, Emanuel Macron, has succeeded in rallying his opposite numbers from six other southern countries. In their declaration adopted last week at a mini-summit in Rome, Cyprus, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal take position in favour of consulting the citizens on the future of the EU and state that the creation of transnational lists could strengthen the democratic dimension of the EU.
At the European Parliament, the French government has been unstinting in its efforts to convince the MEPs of political groups and/or countries with misgivings about the move. On Tuesday 16 January, the minister for European affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, met Parliament's President, Antonio Tajani, and the chair of the EPP group, Germany’s Manfred Weber, to discuss the transnational lists, amongst other things.
In late 2017, moreover, France sent a note to the member states outlining the details for the election of MEPs under a European constituency which, Paris suggests, should be appended to European electoral law. This note aims to respond to countries’ concerns that the names on the transnational lists will ultimately come chiefly from the ‘large’ member states.
According to the informal French document, of which EUROPE has had sight, any voter registered on an electoral list would have the option to vote for MEPs on transnational lists. The vacant seats would be divided up between the transnational lists with at least 3% of the votes in a ballot by proportional representation, with no vote-splitting or preferential voting, and with blank ballot papers to be left unaccounted, but with no influence on determining the votes cast.
These lists, which would be officially drawn up and approved by an EU election committee, as follows: - the candidates would be registered on the voting lists in at least one third of the member states; - share of candidates from the same country may not exceed 25%; - the first seven candidates must be from different countries; - the lists will alternate between candidates of different sex and nationality.
The EU election committee would be made up of 27 national representatives and individuals appointed by the Presidents of the European Council, European Parliament and European Commission plus the director of the authority responsible for registering European political parties and their foundations.
The draft reform of EU election law, which the Parliament adopted in November 2015 (see EUROPE 11429), but which remains blocked at the Council, seeks to enshrine the process of appointing Spitzenkandidaten, who would head the transnational lists in the European elections of 2019. According to Parliament, the European political parties would appoint their lead candidate and in the event of victory, these Spitzenkandidaten would chair the European Commission. This was the case with the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker to the head of the European institution following the victory of the Christian Democrats in the European elections of 2014.
On Wednesday, the Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, backed the process of Spitzenkandidaten elected from transnational lists.
Parliamentary committee to vote imminently on composition of Parliament
The creation of transnational lists, which will require a reform of EU electoral law, is politically linked to the reform of the composition of the European Parliament, on which the committee on constitutional affairs (AFCO) is to take position on Tuesday 23 January.
Time is of the essence: on Friday 23 February, European Council, which is ultimately responsible for making the decision, will informally discuss these institutional questions. It is inconceivable that Parliament will not take a position before then on its own composition after the elections of May 2019.
“At the February summit, European leaders will have to take a position. Then, we will finally witness whether their public calls for more European democracy lead to tangible results or remain lip service”, said Jo Leinen (S&D, Germany), figurehead of the Federalist movement in Parliament.
On the composition of Parliament, the draft ‘Hübner/Silva Pereira’ report takes a position in favour of reducing the number of MEPs to 700 (see EUROPE 11857). 22 of the 73 seats to fall vacant after Brexit would be redistributed to countries that are under-represented in proportion to their population size, such as Spain, France and Italy.
A critical meeting of the MEPs responsible for negotiating this dossier on behalf of their groups will take place this Thursday 18 January, ahead of a vote at the AFCO committee, to allow Parliament to take a position at its February plenary.
If, in this framework, the MEPs stress their desire to create transnational lists ahead of the 2019 elections, negotiations will focus on the distribution of the number of MEPs per member state. Contrary to the initial hopes expressed by German EPP members and Belgian Liberal Guy Verhofstadt, this will not comply with any specific mathematical formula.
The symbolic figure of 700 MEPs suggested by the co-rapporteurs is likely to be increased, according to a Parliamentary source. Some member states are reported to be calling for more MEPs in exchange for their support for transnational lists. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)