On Wednesday 7 February, MEPs reiterated their support for the Spitzenkandidaten process, saying they are willing to reject any candidate to the post of president of the European Commission who has not been designated by the European political parties before the European elections of May 2019.
“The Parliament will be ready to reject any candidate to the presidency of the Commission who has not been designated as Spitzenkandidat upstream of the European elections”, said the rapporteur, Esteban Gonzalez Pons (EPP, Spain) regarding review of the framework agreement on relations between Parliament and the European Commission, adopted in plenary (457 for, 200 against with 20 abstentions).
Several heads of state and government would like to question this principle which was set in place for the first time during European elections in 2014. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, on the other hand, as well as Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz – all of whom are Christian Democrats, therefore of the largest political family in the European Parliament – took a stance in favour of Spitzenkandidaten.
According to MEPs, keeping this process is a matter of democracy. The president of the European Parliament says the lead candidate system “is a landmark on the road towards a more political and democratic Europe and should therefore not be dismissed”. “Our citizens expect it to be politics and not bureaucracy that guides the Union. They prefer an open and transparent competition between parties and candidates rather than agreements made behind closed doors”, added Antonio Tajani, who is also a member of the EPP Group.
Pons’ report sets out in detail the benefits of the Spitzenkandidaten process. It thus increases democratic “transparency” given that “the applicants for Commission presidency are brought to the knowledge of citizens before the European elections”. The process also reinforces the political awareness of European citizens and entrenches the political legitimacy of the Parliament and Commission, MEPs say.
“This new stage in the strengthening of the parliamentary dimension of the Union is a principle that cannot be denied”, Parliament says, saying the process respects the institutional balance between the Parliament and the European Council as set out in the treaties.
“It is not a conflict between the Council and the Parliament but between power and democracy and one cannot be the first parliament in the world to choose power rather than democracy”, said Pons, prior to the vote.
MEPs also facilitated the participation of European commissioners in exercise at the European elections. The latter must be able to stand for and be designated by the European political parties as Spitzenkandidaten, without having to take unpaid leave beforehand.
This provision was included in the code of conduct of European commissioners, in application since early February (see EUROPE 11951).
The Parliament nonetheless puts safeguards in place: it should be informed of measures taken to be sure that the commissioners concerned abide by the rules of independence and integrity and do not use the Commission’s human or material resources for activity linked to electoral campaigns.
Such conditions, however, did not reassure a number of MEPs. “The commissioners must take leave if they are campaigning for national elections, but not for European elections. To my mind, that is incomprehensible”, said Barbara Spinelli (Italy) on behalf of the GUE/NGL group.
Changes to the institutional agreement voted by the EU were negotiated between the conference of Parliament's presidents and the Commission. They will take effect once they are formally adopted by the College of Commissioners. (Original in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)