On Tuesday 12 December, the European Parliament endorsed the position of its Committee on Constitutional Affairs, which advocates the use of the system of leading candidates (‘Spitzenkandidaten’) for the appointment of the future President of the European Commission at the European elections in June 2024 (see EUROPE 13280/23).
The European Parliament considers it necessary to establish “a clear and credible link” between the choice of the electorate and the election of the President of the Commission, who must have the support of a majority of MEPs in the future Parliament. To achieve this, the European Council and Parliament would have to conclude “an interinstitutional agreement” to ensure that once the election results are known, the leading candidates, the presidents of the European political parties and the presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament would immediately begin negotiations to “agree, on behalf of the European Parliament, on a common candidate to preside over the Commission before the European Council makes its proposal”.
In Tuesday’s vote, however, MEPs struck out any reference to the creation of a European constituency, even though they had advocated its creation as part of the reform of EU electoral law blocked in the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 12944/1). Such a constituency would allow transnational lists led by ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ to compete, in addition to the election of MEPs at national level.
Parliament also expects the European parties and parliamentary groups in the European Parliament to adopt a “legislature agreement” for the legislative period 2024-2029 in order to secure, before the Commission is appointed, a majority in Parliament on which to base its work programme. Each candidate to the European Commission would be invited to subscribe to this legislature agreement in order to obtain the support of MEPs.
MEPs also set out recommendations aimed at increasing the participation in elections of specific population groups, such as mobile EU citizens and people with disabilities.
See the European Parliament report: https://aeur.eu/f/a3k (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)