openDemocracy: The European demos and Ursula von der Leyen’s democratic quandary

The system of parliamentary representation in Europe was always opaque because there is no such thing that we could call a European demos; instead we have a loose collection of numerous national demoimanifesting little coherence and solidarity. Besides, the European Parliament was never allowed to control the European government. Paradoxically, this might be a blessing for an integrated Europe. The EP hosts ever more politicians determined to bring power back from Brussels to their own national capitols. They may have failed to take over the EP during the May elections, but they are now able to block important decisions within the Parliament and the Council, as Frans Timmermans has learned lately. [...]

She should start with the issue of transparency, an issue without which people can hardly control any government. The EU has cosier relations with lobbyists than with citizens, it shows more determination in curbing “excessive” social spending than tax dodging, and its communication strategy is highly selective. We recently learned that the EP snubbed a proposal to make contacts with lobbyists more transparent while the Commission for months refused to disclose the results of emissions tests it did on diesel vehicles produced by Porsche. Details of tax havens used by Europe’s firms were revealed by WikiLeaks and not by Mr Juncker or Tajani. These are probably only the symbolic tips of the icebergs, and Von der Leyen should start cleaning up this mess quickly, reassuring Europe’s public about its unbiased and transparent conduct. [...]

Creating a second chamber of the European Parliament featuring representatives of cities, regions, NGOs and business associations could also bring citizens closer to the EU. This chamber would chiefly feature local activists and sectoral representatives who are closer to ordinary citizens than professional politicians currently sitting in the EP. Of course, Von der Leyen is not in a position to create a second chamber, but she can wholeheartedly embrace the idea. She can also propose to give Europe’s citizens meaningful ways for contesting decisions directly affecting them. The prerogatives and the budget of Europe’s Ombudsman could increase and the scope of private litigation in the European Court of Justice could be broadened.

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The Conversation: Ursula Von der Leyen: why controversial choice for EU top job may actually have been the right one

MEPs themselves are to blame for the demise of the Spitzenkandidaten system. Had they managed to unite behind a candidate, it would have been difficult for the council to override their decision, despite having legal authority to do so. But none of the lead candidates – Frans Timmermans, Margrethe Vestager and Manfred Weber – was able to command a majority. [...]

Eastern European countries opposed Timmermans because he had led inquiries into rule of law violations in Hungary and Poland. But Timmermans also failed to win the EPP’s support. As the largest parliamentary party group, the EPP fought to select one of their own, even if it meant sacrificing the Spitzenkandidaten system in the process. Vestager had announced her candidacy late and was unpopular in Italy as well as the Visegrad countries (albeit not as unpopular as Timmermans).

Technically, those who refused to back Weber and Timmermans could have been overruled by other member states in the council, because none had a blocking minority (representing more than 35% of the EU population). In fact, a key reason why the Lisbon Treaty increased the use of qualified majority voting was to facilitate the EU’s ability to take decisions without the burdensome requirement of unanimity. However, council members chose not to take that route. Instead, the council members stuck with the informal norm of unanimous decision making because they worried that overriding the objectors might provoke them to resort to obstructive political tactics. [...]

Had von der Leyen failed to garner sufficient votes, it would have plunged the EU into crisis as there is no obvious alternative candidate who could have commanded a majority in the European Parliament. In Berlin, the grand coalition of Christian Democratic Union (CDU/ CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) might have fallen apart. The SPD would have had a hard time explaining to German voters why it torpedoed the first German Commission president in over 50 years, thereby blocking the first woman to lead the Commission (a woman who, unlike her main male rival, has held senior executive public office for 15 years).

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Politico: Conservatives rebel against Merkel’s EU top jobs plan

Among the national leaders to speak out against the proposal were Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. That opposition, along with Poland, Romania and other countries that had already voiced resistance to Timmermans, was enough to make the Osaka plan a political nonstarter. [...]

“As EPP, we haven’t agreed to the package that was negotiated in Osaka. I think it’s fair to say there’s a lot opposition to the proposal that was made in Osaka from the EPP’s point of view," Varadkar said, arriving at the Council's Europa building. "The vast majority of the EPP prime ministers don’t believe that we should give up the presidency of the Commission quite so easily, without a fight.” [...]

Rangel noted that the EPP had officially tapped two other prime ministers, Plenković and Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, as its official negotiators in the leadership deliberations. “Mr. Plenković and Mr. Karins,” Rangel said. “They speak on behalf of the EPP.”

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Deutsche Welle: Analysis: Key takeaways from the EU election results

The European parliamentary elections have seen their biggest turnout in 20 years. Participation in the EU elections was up by neary 10 points compared with five years ago. Europe's traditionally large centrist parties have suffered significant losses, as Greens, liberals and nationalists gained ground in Brussels. But voters delivered a complicated message: it’s a patchwork result from a patchwork union.

Politico: Little debate (literally) over best Spitzenkandidat

But with just seven weeks to go until the European Parliament election, the two main contenders — Manfred Weber of the European People's Party (EPP) and Frans Timmermans of the Party of European Socialists (PES) — are scheduled to go head-to-head in just one EU-wide debate.

By contrast, current Commission President Jean-Claude Junker of the EPP and his main rival, former Parliament President Martin Schulz of the PES, faced off in nine debates in 2014, including four times for an EU-wide audience. [...]

The main liberal party, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), has refused to put forward a single nominee, viewing the Spitzenkandidat process as unfairly benefitting Weber and the conservatives. Instead, ALDE has put forward a slate of candidates and said that different members of that list would represent the party in debates, notably European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a Dane, and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, ALDE's group leader in Parliament.

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Politico: Last rites for Spitzenkandidat

Since then, the power-sharing agreement has collapsed, and the heads of government on the European Council have said they will not be bound by the Spitzenkandidat process. Meanwhile, parties other than the EPP have turned against the system, recognizing that it overwhelmingly benefits the conservatives, who are once again virtually guaranteed to win the most seats in Parliament in next year’s election. [...]

Some of the strongest resistance is coming from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), which has only the fourth-largest faction in Parliament but has made strong gains in national elections and is soon expected to hold eight seats on the European Council — the same number as the EPP. [...]

For now, Merkel has backed Weber’s candidacy, but her endorsement is largely a necessity of national allegiance, and in announcing her support she made clear that merely winning the party’s nomination would not guarantee that Weber becomes Commission president — an implicit renunciation of the Spitzenkandidat system. [...]

But unlike national parliaments, the European Parliament is co-legislator along with the European Council, and members of the Council have made clear that they are not willing to relinquish their legal authority over nominating the Commission president in favor of an unwritten process that gives Parliament overwhelming control.

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Politico: EU faces Poland test

Forget worries about exacerbating an East-West rift or splitting the bloc just when it needs unity to deal with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Theresa May. If Polish strongman Jarosław Kaczyński is allowed to get away with replacing an independent judiciary with judges hand-picked for political loyalty, the EU’s claims to be a democratic watchdog and not just a glorified free-trade area will look hollow. [...]

“The Polish case is a test whether it is possible to create a Soviet-style justice system, where the control of courts, prosecutors and judges lies with the executive and a single party, in an EU member state,” Piotr Buras of the Stefan Batory Foundation, a Polish civil society organization, and Gerald Knaus of the European Stability Initiative think tank wrIte in a joint paper. “It remains to be seen whether this can be corrected before it fatally undermines the idea of the EU as a community based on law and common values,” they add. [...]

Barring a last-minute intervention by EU ministers or the European Court of Justice, the government will go ahead with the enforced early retirement of up to 40 percent of the Supreme Court on July 3 under a law that entered into force in April. Among those whose necks are on the block is Małgorzata Gersdorf, the first president of the Supreme Court, whose eviction in the middle of a six-year term would violate the Polish constitution. Some 70 out of 120 Supreme Court justices would then be new appointees.  [...]

Because of its own history, it’s hard for Germany to read the riot act to the Poles over the rule of law. It would gift Kaczyński a chance to turn a principled dispute over judicial independence into a political battle and accuse Berlin of “bullying.” Chancellor Angela Merkel has wisely let the Commission take the lead so far, lending discreet support to Vice President Frans Timmermans, the Dutch social democrat who holds the toxic Polish file in Brussels. He needs her public support now.

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Politico: Netanyahu is picking the wrong friends in Europe

Here’s something for Benjamin Netanyahu to consider: The Israeli prime minister should spend less time in Europe praising nationalists like Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán and more time listening to people in Brussels, like European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans.

Look at the recent Hungarian election. During his campaign, Orbán blamed his country’s problems on a Jewish financier, George Soros — and won, big time. After his victory, Orbán spokesman, Zoltán Kovács, said the attacks on Soros “could not possibly be anti-Semitic, since they were echoed by Netanyahu.” [...]

The Commission has also taken a series of important concrete actions to support these words. Timmermans has named the first-ever European coordinator against anti-Semitism. He has pressed internet companies to combat online anti-Semitism. He calls out countries for trying to rehabilitate Holocaust war criminals and minimize their own guilt. And he has unlocked millions of euros in grants to fight anti-Semitism and finance interfaith initiatives. [...]

The European Parliament also deserves praise for its new support for European Judaism. In June 2017, the Parliament adopted its first-ever resolution condemning anti-Semitism. Among other conditions, it requires EU members to appoint national coordinators to combat anti-Semitism, to publicly condemn anti-Semitic statements and to promote education about the Holocaust. [...]

Although European institutions want to avoid intra-Jewish politics, they should ensure that all strains of Judaism are treated equally. Most European countries continue to recognize followers of Orthodox Judaism as the only representatives of the Jewish people. Orthodox communities alone receive government support. State support should also go to progressive, non-Orthodox Jewish movements.

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Politico: Brussels goes to war against plastic garbage

The Commission certainly is. The strategy includes new requirements to design products that are recyclable, and EU-wide quality standards for plastic waste, which can then be more easily plugged back into the production chain. It will also encourage producers to use as much recycled material as possible. To help, Brussels will spend €100 million a year on plastics recycling and clean-up research.

A surprise proposal last week by Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger to bring in a plastic tax — aimed both at shoring up the bloc’s finances after Brexit and making it more expensive to litter and widely resisted by industry and some NGOs — managed to get a mention in the strategy. [...]

The Commission also focused on seas, where each year between 150,000 and 500,000 tons of plastic waste enters the oceans. The strategy calls marine litter — debris from items such as plastic products and abandoned fishing gear — a “visible and alarming” sign of the problem of waste.

The EU also wants to crack down on microplastics — minuscule bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters in size. Brussels is considering a ban on intentionally added microplastics found in cosmetics, body washes and paints. It also wants to carry out more research into unintentional microplastics, like the rubber worn off tires.

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The Atlantic: Poland: The EU's Next Big Test

The EU threatened Poland with the unprecedented step of sanctioning it with Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, a move that would suspend Warsaw’s voting rights within the bloc. But the threat by the EU’s first vice president, Frans Timmermans, notwithstanding, any move to use Article 7 must be unanimous—and that’s not likely given that Hungary, Poland’s Visegrad ally, has threatened to veto any such action.

The Senate’s 55-23 vote came in the early hours of Saturday after 16 hours of contentious debate. The vote came two days after the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, approved the measure. President Andzrej Duda, who normally supports the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), must then sign the bill into law. He has 21 days to do so. A spokesman for the president said Duda saw flaws in the measure, but declined to say whether he would sign it or seek the opinion of the country’s constitutional court. [...]

The legislation prompted massive protests, including this week after the Sejm’s vote. It was one of the largest protests in Warsaw since PiS came to power in late 2015. The demonstrations continued into early Friday. Protesters carried both Polish and EU flags, and chanted against the government. [...]

For the EU, watching Poland go the way of Hungary has been startling. It may begin infringement procedures against Poland as early as next week—a process that could take years. For the EU, the promise of the era following the collapse of the Berlin Wall was fulfilled when Poland and other Eastern bloc countries joined the EU in 2004. More than a decade later, that initial promise is, in the EU’s view, imperiled.

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Politico: Why Warsaw loves to hate Brussels

This personal attack was unprecedented, but it came only days after an eye-catching speech in the Polish parliament by Prime Minister Beata Szydło. Dredging up the fight over the relocation of refugees across the EU from 2015, she called out “the Brussels political elites … blinded by political correctness” and promised Poland won’t be “blackmailed” by the EU. To a standing ovation from the Law and Justice party caucus, she added, “We will not participate in the madness of the Brussels elites. We want to help people and not the political elites.” [...]

From Warsaw’s point of view, there seems to be little downside to continuing to pick this fight. At least the Law and Justice party appears to think so. The spitballs have kept coming even after Warsaw’s debacle at the EU summit in March, when it lost a fight over the reelection of Donald Tusk to a second term atop the European Council. No one, not even illiberal Hungary, backed Poland’s opposition to native son and PiS rival Tusk. The episode seemed to only revive Tusk’s political fortunes and give his until then demoralized Civic Platform a boost in the polls. “Today there is a clear crisis of principles in Europe,” Szydło said after the Tusk outcome in Brussels, which Waszczykowski attributed to “Berlin’s diktat.” [...]

As Czarnecki suggests, PiS is aware of the EU money on the line and the generally deep support among Poles for the EU, currently near record numbers — at 78 percent according to a March poll by IBRiS or 88 percent in an April CBOS poll, one percentage point below the recorded high in 2014. [...]

By a pragmatic reading of all this, PiS will keep up the harsh rhetoric in public — and, with a view to keeping the EU money coming and in light of the strong popular support for Europe (and the recent trend away from populist parties on the Continent), be open to accommodation and dialogue with Brussels in private. Some EU diplomats say they’re picking up signs of that.

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Politico: 5 ways the EU could send a message to Viktor Orbán

They are just the most recent examples of Hungary straying from the EU line: there are 66 pending infringement against Hungary, several of which involve cases of alleged discrimination against non-Hungarians.

So far, Brussels has been unable to lay a glove on Orbán and Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s first vice president, was cautious about taking further steps, saying Wednesday that “we have to be on a very firm legal ground before we start infringement procedures.” Actions taken so far have been mainly on technical issues: but this time the protection of Article 2 of the EU treaties — on core of EU values — is at stake, Timmermans said. [...]

Orbán’s strongest link to Brussels is his Fidesz party’s membership of the European People’s Party. According to the EPP’s statutes, suspending or excluding a party would need to be approved by the European Parliament at the request of either the party’s president — Frenchman Joseph Daul — or by seven MEPs from five different countries. But it’s not in the EPP’s interests to kick out the Hungarians. The EPP has 216 seats in the Parliament — making it the biggest group, ahead of the Socialists and Democrats on 189 — and losing the 12 Fidesz MEPs would shrink its lead. Plus, Hungarian MEPs are seen as loyal and hard working. [...]

In the 2014-2020 budgetary period, Hungary is slated to receive around €29,6 billion in EU funds to finance motorways, railways, energy projects and other schemes in a country whose GDP is around €126 billion a year. It’s an important source of cash for Budapest but the likes of Italy and Sweden are keen to claw back some EU funding if Central European countries are reluctant to host refugees. However, changing the EU’s budget rules before 2020 would be impossible.

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The Guardian: EU gives Poland two months to scrap changes to its highest court

The EU executive has issued a stark warning to Poland to scrap changes to its highest court which critics say trample over the rule of law, but stopped short of calling for sanctions on the member state.

Frans Timmermans, vice-president of the European commission, gave the Polish government two months to rewrite proposed amendments to the country’s constitutional tribunal that some say will put Poland on the road to autocracy. [...]

The Dutch commissioner could still recommend Poland be stripped of EU voting rights, but this unprecedented punishment is unlikely to win unanimous support from EU member states, who must take the final decision. Hungary’s strongman leader Viktor Orbán has already vowed to oppose the move.

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The Huffington Post: In Poland, U.S. Should Emphasize Link Between Rule of Law, Civil Society, Security

Polish civil society, including KOD, have also expressed concern over another new law that consolidates the government’s power over the media, a draft law that would allow police to shut down public protest at any time, and the apparent rise in hate crime since the new government took power. One KOD supporter noted that the government’s actions put Poland at risk for “Russian influences,” meaning bigotry and xenophobia. Said Morton, “We want to create... a sense of community, a way of being Polish that isn’t based on hate.” [...]

Timmermans and the European Union should hold steady in their support for civil society and the rule of law. The E.U. should keep up pressure on Poland to reform policies that threaten these foundations, such as the law hampering the Constitutional Tribunal, the proposed law that would allow law enforcement to prohibit peaceful protest at any time, and a draft anti-terrorism law that would make all foreigners potential targets of surveillance and suspicion. These measures threaten the very stability and security that Poland seeks to develop through its partnerships with the European Union and the United States.

The United States should support the E.U. in its fight to maintain rule of law and human rights standards. President Obama this week announced his intent to attend the NATO Summit in Warsaw on July 8-9 and to meet with government officials there. He should consider conditioning any face-to-face meetings with Polish officials on whether the government has made progress on its rule of law promises. American officials in Warsaw should also point out to their Polish allies the risks that recent legislative proposals present to the very thing Poland seeks to shore up at the NATO Summit: its own security.

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Deutsche Welle: EU threatens sanctions if Poland doesn't reverse high court overhaul

Timmermans did not mention possible of sanctions, which are a last resort in a procedure introduced in 2014 and have never been used against any of the 28 EU member states. Hungary is thought likely to oppose sanctions, which require the unanimous approval. [...]

The government has also incurred the displeasure of the Council of Europe, a human rights group, and the United States. The Venice Commission, a body of constitutional experts and part of the 47-country Council of Europe, in April found that the reforms "undermine democracy, human rights and the rule of law."

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