In the run-up to the European elections of May 2019, the principal political families will appoint their front-runners, or Spitzenkandidaten, at the end of this year or early next, in an election innovation that made it possible to put personalities into the 2014 campaign, despite the misgivings of the heads of state or government of the EU.
The idea is a very simple one: the European parties name their candidate in advance and, should they prove triumphant in the European elections, this...