The Spitzenkandidat concept – which gives the winning group in the EU elections a chance to propose their lead candidate as European Commission president – is quietly fading away, with even its initial backers becoming gradually less vocal about the idea, Czech EU lawmaker Jan Zahradil said.
“I have the feeling that the concept of the Spitzenkandidat is quietly dying, quietly fading away. No one is actually talking about it anymore,” Czech MEP Jan Zahradil (ODS, ECR), who ran as the ECR Spitzenkandidat in the 2019 European elections, told EURACTIV.cz.
Even those who advocated for the Spitzenkandidat system in the past are now silent on the matter, he added. “Everybody is kind of taking their hands off it,” he said in the interview.
According to the Spitzenkandidat system, if the leading candidate of a European political family wins the EU elections and gets the majority in the European Parliament, then he or she takes over the presidency of the European Commission.
“It seems that everybody is kind of taking their hands off it,” he added. [Photo source: European Parliament]
However, while former Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was nominated under the Spitzenkandidat system as the ‘top candidate’ of the European People’s Party (EPP), his successor, Ursula von der Leyen, was selected by EU leaders behind closed doors.
Nobody seems to be reviving the Spitzenkandidaten topic before the 2024 European elections, but “it might change in the autumn” when the election draws near, and the campaigns begin, he said.
“It seems that everybody is kind of taking their hands off it,” he added.
Waiting for Ursula von der Leyen
This time, only the Greens have said they will nominate a Spitzenkandidat ahead of the 2024 EU elections. However, the final decision will be made in June at their congress in Vienna.
The other political parties have yet to express their opinion.
EURACTIV was informed that a key element on whether such a process may be followed is if current EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen decides to re-run for the post, a decision she is yet to reveal.
“If she decides to re-run, none will oppose it in the EPP”, a source close to the matter told EURACTIV.
The EPP party has the Spitzenkandidaten process in its statute; therefore, in principle, it supports such a system.
However, if ultimately there is no political appetite to follow the process, some in the EPP consider amending the statute, which will need a congress.
Another key element, EURACTIV was informed, is what the Germans will decide based on the political balance in Berlin.
“According to the current coalition agreement, the Greens will have the right to nominate Germany’s next European commissioner […] as long as the Commission president is not from Germany”, a CDU source recently told EURACTIV.
Several sources in the EPP deny rumours that the current leader Manfred Weber is planning to run for the Commission presidency.
However, his relations with von der Leyen have been problematic, and this causes anger in CDU, which claims that this puts her potential second mandate to the test.
Knives out in the EPP
At least €300,000 worth of contracts between the European People’s Party (EPP) and a company allegedly related to Mario Voigt, the EPP digital campaign manager during the 2019 EU election campaign, are on the radar of the German authorities, EURACTIV …
ECR growing in big countries
In his interview with EURACTIV.cz, Zahradil also shared his positive expectations regarding European conservatives’ future.
According to the Czech MEP, who also served as a president of the pan-European Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (ACRE), the conservatives are “doing well” at the European level.
Among the recent achievements, he mentioned the Finns Party – a party which came second in recent national elections in Finland and will probably take part in the coalition government – joining the ECR.
“If you look at the big countries – France, Italy, Spain or Poland – the EPP does not have a prime minister in any of those, although it has the biggest club in the European Parliament. We, ECR, have a prime minister in Italy, Poland or the Czech Republic, and we also participate in the governments of other member states,” Zahradil said.
Zahradil also admitted that he is a “fan” of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom he called “a talent”.
Citing recent national polls, Zahradil also said ECR could become the European Parliament’s fourth-largest party.
(Aneta Zachová | EURACTIV.cz, Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
