European leaders do not oppose the idea of a process of lead candidates ('Spitzenkandidaten') to give a familiar face to European political families campaigning for the European elections of May 2019.
But anxious to protect their prerogatives and to keep wriggle room in the light of future election results, the EU27 rejects any automaticity whereby the Spitzenkandidat designated by the European political party that won the European elections would automatically become president of the European Commission.
‘There was an agreement for no automaticity in this process,’ explained the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, on Friday 23 February after the informal European summit on a few key institutional issues and the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (see other article). A European source said the EU27 were unanimous in their rejection of automaticity, noting: ‘Being a Spitz doesn’t exclude you from becoming the future President of the Commission. I’m sure that it might even increase the chances, it is obvious for me.’
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said one would have to see what the majorities were at the European Parliament because even in a national government, it is not necessarily the party that won the most votes that gets the prime minister job. The prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, said that if there were a Spitzenkandidat like Marine Le Pen, he would do everything in his power to avoid having a candidate like her.
Europe’s leaders noted that under the European treaty, it is for the European Council to propose a candidate for the Commission presidency in the light of the European election results and for the European Parliament to elect or reject said candidate.
Tusk stressed the importance of the double democratic legitimacy of the European Council, which is made up of democratically elected heads of state (elected in their own country) and the European Parliament of MEPs elected using universal suffrage. The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, noted the ‘shared responsibility’ of member states and Parliament.
In 2014, the main European political parties placed the European Council with a fait accompli by designating Spitzenkandidaten. The victory of the Christian Democrats made it possible to put this administrative innovation into practice with the appointment of Juncker. The choice was easier to accept because Merkel belongs to the same political family. Since then, the EPP has put the process into its rule book and the European Parliament has warned that it will refuse any candidate not designated as a Spitzenkandidat (see EUROPE 11956).
Juncker said that last time, the treaty was the same. He said there had been a little automaticity and therefore the next time, it would not necessarily be very different.
The EU27 agreed to breathe life before the European elections of 2024 into debate about setting European constituencies so MEPs can be elected on transnational lists.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said that France’s vision favoured a more democratic Europe, a genuine transnational list whose head could have been a lead candidate. He regretted the European Parliament’s rejection of transnational lists because of hostility from the EPP, saying Parliament had missed an opportunity.
A hemicycle of 705 MEPs
As expected (see EUROPE 11967), Europe’s leaders endorsed a reduction in MEPs from 751 to 705 for the 2019-2024 term of office in line with Brexit, as desired by the European Parliament itself, without any country losing seats (see EUROPE 11956).
In line with demographic changes, 27 of the 73 seats that will be vacant once the United Kingdom leaves the EU will be reallocated as followed: +5 seats for France (79 in total) and Spain (59), +3 seats for Italy (76) and the Netherlands (29), +2 for Ireland (13), +1 seat for Poland (52), Romania (33), Sweden (21), Austria (19), Denmark (14), Finland (14), Slovakia (14), Croatia (12) and Estonia (7).
No countries are reported to have asked for more seats in Parliament, but the Netherlands said that all the UK’s seats should have been scrapped. Hungary questioned the redistribution of seats in line with changes in population, since new residents are not necessarily European citizens with the right to vote.
A formal decision will be taken in June, in time for member states to adjust their legislation before the next European elections.
Finally like 25 other member states, Spain will make a contribution to the holding of citizen consultations in April to October on the future of Europe. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and the editorial team)