WHAT THE EUROPEAN ELECTORATE NEEDS TO HEAR?

Article 17 of the Lisbon treaty now gives the Parliament the right to elect the Commission president. It states: “Taking into account the elections of the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council acting by a qualified majority shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for the president of the Commission. This candidate shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its members.”

Questions to Candidates For President of the European Commission

1. What in your programme for Europe differentiates you from the other mainstream candidates?

2. How will your Europe, programmatically and policy-wise, be different from the Europe of your opponent?

3. How will you ensure, if elected as President of the EC, that the Commission will actually pursue the policy preferences to which you are committed and on which you were elected?

4. Will you be willing to use the powers the Treaty gives you to ensure that at least a majority of Commissioners will share your principal preferences?

Even if a candidate is willing to take up the challenge of the first question and commit to policy preferences which present a real choice to the European electorate, this will be of little impact in vindicating the principle of representation  if such preferences, by and large, are not translated into the Commission programme. And that cannot happen if the Commission is not committed, by and large, to similar preferences.

The powers of the President alone to shape the policies of the Union are limited. The other people in the College of Commisioners are put forward by national governments, one from each member state. The  fact that commissioners are nominated by their governments means that the composition of the overall College reflects the political balance between member-states rather than the outcome of the European Parliament elections.

The priority at this time is to appoint a Commission who can restore trust in the institution. A Europe with a politically committed President, a supportive College of Commissioners and a majority or plurality in the European Parliament would represent a new and radically different Europe.