Europeans have voted. Now the horse-trading over the top EU jobs begins. In coming months, the bloc must install new presidents of the European Commission, European Central Bank and European Council (which comprises the national leaders), plus a new foreign policy supremo. All these roles are vitally important. They should no longer be awarded through backroom trade-offs based more on nationality than qualifications.
The EU remains in essence a confederation of nation states. It must inevitably aim to achieve a balance of nationalities, regions and party affiliations, not to mention gender, across key roles over time. Bigger or older members cannot monopolise top positions.
Yet the union faces unprecedented challenges: reforming governance and the eurozone, reconnecting with voters, rolling back populist nationalism, and combating the erosion of rule of law in eastern members. It must deal with a US president who has launched a trade war with China and has the EU in his sights. A “Buggins’ turn” approach to key roles is not fit for purpose.
The jobs merry-go-round starts with the head of the commission, the EU’s executive arm. The appointment is connected to the European Parliament elections just held. The legislature first acquired the right to be consulted on EU leaders’ choice for commission president, then the power to approve it.
More recently, EU leaders were required to make their selection “taking into account” the elections. Parliament’s big political families interpreted this as meaning the presidency should go to the “lead candidate”, or Spitzenkandidat, of the political group that wins the most seats or can muster a majority. Yet this system confers little extra democratic legitimacy on the EU when the candidates have little name recognition and can only be voted for in their own countries, and when the parliament’s two mainstream parties now account for less than half of all MEPs.
The logic of the Spitzenkandidat system would see Manfred Weber, the Bavarian conservative who spearheaded the campaign for the centre-right European People’s party, become commission president. This would hardly reflect the will of the people. The EPP lost ground in the weekend polls and now has only 177 out of 751 seats. Germany’s centre-right CDU/CSU, which weighed in behind Mr Weber’s candidacy, fell to its lowest score in any election since the second world war.
Just as important is Mr Weber’s unsuitability. With 15 years as an MEP and two as a local politician in Bavaria but none in national government, he would be the least experienced commission president ever. His record as EPP group leader is tarnished by his constant accommodation of Viktor Orban, Hungary’s nationalist premier — suggesting Mr Weber puts political expediency above fundamental values.
Some EU capitals might accept Mr Weber since their greater fear is to see another German, the hawkish Jens Weidmann, at the helm of the ECB. As guardian of the eurozone, the ECB presidency is pivotal. Both this role and that of commission president should be awarded on merit.
The EU needs an effective executive to set the policy agenda, run trade policy, regulate markets and hold governments to the rules. There are talented and experienced alternative candidates: Margrethe Vestager, who distinguished herself in the competition portfolio; Frans Timmermans, who has led the charge on rule of law in newer member states; and — unpopular though he would be in London — Michel Barnier. The EU should reject Mr Weber, and the system of horse-trading he represents.
