A vote for the President? The role of Spitzenkandidaten in the 2014 European Parliament elections

ABSTRACT

The European Parliament promised voters that the 2014 elections would be different. According to its interpretation of the Lisbon Treaty, a vote in these European elections would also be a vote for the President of the Europe's executive, the Commission. To reinforce this link between the European elections and the Commission President, the major political groups each nominated a lead candidate, Spitzenkandidat, for the post. This article examines how this innovation affected the 2014 elections. It concludes that the presidential candidates did not play a major role in the election campaigns, except in a handful of countries, and thus had a limited impact on voter participation and vote choices. However, the European Parliament was very successful in imposing its interpretation of the new modified procedure for electing the Commission President, not shared by all national governments, and this will have important implications for the inter-institutional dynamics in the Union and the future of European democracy.

KEY WORDS:

• Commission President
• democracy
• elections
• European Parliament
• Spitzenkandidaten

Notes

1 In 2007 the Eurobarometer asked citizens across the EU whether members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit in the European Parliament on the basis of their nationality or their political affinities. Only a third of respondents realized it was the latter. Indeed, in that same survey in 2007, less than half were willing to say that MEPs were actually directly elected, and only 1 in 10 knew that the next European Parliament elections were to be held in 2009.

2 European Parliament Resolution of 22 November 2012 on the elections to the European Parliament in 2014 (2012/2829(RSP)).

3 Commission Recommendation of 12 March 2013 on enhancing the democratic and efficient conduct of the elections to the European Parliament (2013/142/EU)

4 Standard Eurobarometer 80, Autumn 2013.

5 The survey was conducted by AMR GmbH Dusseldorf on behalf of the AECR. The poll was in the field on 25 and 26 of May on a sample base of 12,132 respondents across 15 EU countries (6,083 voters and 6,049 non-voters).

6 ‘Can you name any of the candidates that have been nominated by the Political Parties at the European level to replace Jose Manuel Barroso as President of the European Commission?’

Additional information

Biographical note

Sara B Hobolt holds the Sutherland Chair in European Institutions, at the London School of Economics and Political Science.