The last time, they tried to nip the Spitzenkandidaten process in the bud, but “they will not succeed”, said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday 7 May, presenting to the press his expectations for the Sibiu summit on the future of the European Union at Twenty-Seven (see EUROPE 12249/1).
In 2014, after the Christian Democratic family had won the European elections, Mr Juncker, who had been nominated before the EPP European Party's top candidate election, took over the presidency of the Commission. European leaders from the EPP and other pro-European political parties had finally agreed to give in to pressure from the European Parliament by validating this then unprecedented process.
MEPs are convinced that the process makes it possible to run the European election campaign by informing citizens about the identity of the future President of the European Commission ahead of the European elections.
The European Council indeed must take the result of the European elections as a basis for proposing to Parliament the name of a person for the presidency of the future Commission, but it rejects any automaticity in the Spitzenkandidaten process (see EUROPE 11968/2).
Among the pro-European political families, the Liberals had nominated a top candidate, the Belgian Guy Verhofstadt, in 2014. However, under the leadership of Emmanuel Macron, who is not an official member, they now believe that this process is useless since there are no transnational lists of candidates for the European elections. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)