On Tuesday 11 June, at the first meeting of Parliament’s Conference of Presidents (CoP) following the European elections, the presidents of the pro-European political groups in the European Parliament - EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA - gave their backing to the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process for appointing the person who will preside over the next European Commission.
Asked by Agence Europe about the likelihood of this process holding up, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola agreed, without giving any further details.
According to the president of the European People’s Party Group (EPP), Germany’s Manfred Weber, Ms Metsola concluded the CoP by noting that a majority of political groups are “clearly in favour” of continuing the lead candidate process. As the EPP came out on top in the European elections and is the only pro-European party to have gained new MEPs (see EUROPE 13427/8), he felt that the other European political families should openly support the Christian Democrat ‘Spitzenkandidat’, the German Ursula von der Leyen, who is standing as a candidate to her own succession. Does such support need to be formalised in writing? “We’ll see in the next few days”, he replied, welcoming the existing “political will”.
On Monday 17 June, at the informal dinner of the heads of state or government in Brussels, Ms Metsola will inform the EU27 that the European Parliament is in favour of respecting the lead candidate process, according to a European Parliament internal source. It is up to the European Council, taking the European elections into account, to designate a person to preside over the Commission who is capable of winning an absolute majority of MEPs (361 votes in 2024).
Mr Weber has asked the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to provide “certainty” by next Monday that the Social Democrats, in the case of the former, and the centrists and liberals, in the case of the latter, will support Ms von der Leyen’s candidacy. She will be travelling to Paris on Tuesday.
The president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D Group), Iratxe García Pérez from Spain, reiterated that her political family was “open to an alliance with all pro-European forces“, insisting that such an alliance should “never [be] with the far right”. On the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process, she approved its continuation without clearly showing her support for Ms von der Leyen, preferring to wait for discussions to be held at the European Council. Today, she added, we must first discuss the “content” of the policies and priorities that a pro-European majority in the European Parliament could defend.
The same is true of the environmentalists. Co-president of the Greens/EFA group, Germany’s Terry Reintke, felt that the rise of sovereignist and nationalist forces was forcing the European Parliament to close ranks by building a pro-European political majority. And “the Greens want to be part of it”, she said, stressing the importance of “stability” in the European Parliament at a time when uncertainty reigns in France following the calling of early legislative elections.
In the negotiations that lie ahead, Ms Reintke reiterated the priorities of her group, which has been weakened by major losses in France and Germany: “Continuation of the ‘European Green Deal’, respect for the rule of law and the rejection of any interaction with the far right”, namely the conservative (ECR) and nationalist (ID) groups. The German environmentalist welcomed the CoP’s support for the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process.
In contrast, the ID group’s representative, Belgian Gerolf Annemans, felt that the European Council was “wise enough” to listen to voters’ demands for a political shift to the right, and not to rely on the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ process to appoint the person who presides over the European Commission. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)