In practical terms, that means resolving differences over the posting of workers, the settlement of refugees, membership of the eurozone and the Schengen zone. Put in other terms, he is trying to preserve the legacy of Helmut Kohl, the long-time chancellor of Germany who was Juncker’s mentor and who took political risks in order to reconcile east and west. [...]
But even if Juncker is thwarted in his ambitions to bind the EU27 closer together after Brexit, even if his impassioned defense of European values and the rule of law makes no impact in Poland and Hungary, his speech may yet prove to be a landmark in the EU’s evolution because of what it said about reform of the bloc’s institutions. [...]
The Spitzenkandidaten process is open to criticism. Whatever the pretense, the Parliament’s elections are an agglomeration of national contests; so Juncker’s name did not appear on ballot papers outside Luxembourg and nobody could cast a vote for Schulz outside Germany. Not all political groups fielded candidates in all countries. The contest was billed as a popular vote, but was decided by the number of seats won, not the number of votes cast (the S&D won more votes than the EPP).
Nevertheless, the Spitzenkandidaten contest will be repeated in 2019. Although championed by the European Parliament (which wanted to give its own electoral contests a focus and significance they had previously lacked), no major national figure in Europe is prepared to stand up and say that the Spitzenkandidaten process should not happen next time round. In the meantime, the expectations for 2019 are gaining in momentum — witness Juncker saying in his speech this week that European electoral campaigns should start earlier and there should be transnational lists of candidates. [...]
Juncker’s suggestion that the presidencies of the Commission and the European Council should be combined would be a step toward a more recognizable structure. It would benefit the Parliament, which would be able to portray itself as the directly elected legislature, and to portray the Commission and Council as the executive/government, supported by their respective administrations. Furthermore, the president of that government would owe his or her mandate to the Spitzenkandidaten contest, to the European Parliament elections, rather than, as in the past, to the collective decision of nationally elected governments.
No comments:
Post a Comment