At an informal meeting in Sibiu, Romania on Thursday 9 May, the Heads of State or Government laid the groundwork for the procedure for appointments to senior posts in the European Union, with a view to a forthcoming Twenty-Eight summit to be held in Brussels on 28 May.
“I call a special European Council on 28 May to start the process to nominate the next leaders of the EU institutions. This should be swift, effective and in accordance with our Treaties”, said Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, at the end of the meeting.
With a mandate to start consultations on the matter, Mr Tusk is of the opinion that the summit on 28 May will make it possible to analyse the results of the European elections in order to be able to propose names for June. 5 years ago, such a summit was also convened.
The senior positions concerned are as follows: - the Presidency of the European Commission, with Mr Juncker's term of office expiring at the end of October; - the Presidency of the European Council to succeed Donald Tusk in November; - the Presidency of the ECB, with Mario Draghi leaving office in October; - the post of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, held until the end of October by Federica Mogherini. It could also include the Presidency of the European Parliament.
“I don't want to wait 3 months”, said Mr Tusk. His idea is therefore to quickly reach a ‘package’ of appointments that respects “the norms and spirit of the treaties”, as well as “geographical balances”. On the other hand, as far as gender balance is concerned, the President of the European Council fears that it will be “difficult to respect” if this balance must be perfect when only one woman currently holds the positions concerned.
If he wishes to reach a consensus on these issues, Mr Tusk added that he would not hesitate to call for a vote if necessary, so that decisions could be taken by a qualified majority of Member States.
As for the future Presidency of the European Council, the doors are open. Mark Rutte, the head of the Dutch government, when he arrived in Sibiu confirmed that he was not a candidate, contrary to rumours.
Uncertainty about compliance with the Spitzenkandidaten process
One of the major questions that remains to be asked is whether the Twenty-Eight will propose to the European Parliament the Spitzenkandidate from the European political family who won the European elections for the Presidency of the European Commission.
This is a political question, with the latest polls still giving the European People's Party (EPP) the lead. If the logic of the Spitzenkandidat is followed, the German Manfred Weber, the leading Christian Democrat candidate, will be nominated.
However, there is no consensus on this position within the European Council. Apart from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the EPP leaders support the Spitzenkandidat process and their candidate Mr Weber.
“I am a member of a group of parties, the EPP, which has once again reiterated its commitment to this principle. But this is not the case for everyone in the European Council”, said Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar reiterated his support for the Bavarian.
On the other hand, several leaders not affiliated to the EPP have expressed scepticism or opposition to this procedure.
“I am not in favour of the Spitzenkandidat principle”, said French President Emmanuel Macron, arguing that such a principle should go hand in hand with the creation of transnational lists. The Spitzenkandidates as nominated by the European political families are, for Mr Macron, “candidates for the kitchen”. “I am not in favour of cooking being done by the major European parties”, he added, before pointing out the lack of legitimacy of political party leaders in relation to the legitimacy of heads of state or government.
The French leader was joined by Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg Liberal Prime Minister, for whom this process “would have been a great opportunity” if the Spitzenkandidates had competed in all Member States on transnational lists.
In February 2018, the European Parliament voted against such lists in a European constituency in 2019, in particular because of the rejection of the EPP Group (see EUROPE 11956/1).
For Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian President, the Spitzenkandidat process is even “a little bit out of democratic procedures and treaties”.
According to the Treaty on European Union (Article 17 (7)), the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, must propose to the European Parliament a candidate for the post of President of the Commission “taking into account” the results of the European elections.
European leaders are therefore under no legal obligation to choose a Spitzenkandidat to chair the Commission. In February, they stressed the non-automatic nature of the accession of a Spitzenkandidat to the head of the Commission, even though they had consented to it in 2014 by appointing Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE 11968/2).
However, this is not the position defended by everyone. Antonio Tajani, the President of the European Parliament, who is also Vice-President of the EPP, said that the European Council had a “political” obligation to propose a Spitzenkandidat for the Presidency of the Commission. The European Parliament had also promised to “reject any candidate for the presidency of the Commission who was not nominated as Spitzenkandidat in advance of the European elections” (see EUROPE 11956/2). Mr Juncker also reiterated his commitment to this process (see EUROPE 12249/3).
The game is therefore far from over. If the Twenty-Eight decided to kill the process, other names could resurface, including Michel Barnier, the chief negotiator of Brexit for the EU, Ms Grybauskaitė, and even Christine Lagarde, the IMF President. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)