Your vote will help decide the next EU Commission President. The European Parliament elections are on 23 May 2019 and, after the elections, EU leaders will propose a candidate for Commission President. The EU treaties say they must take into account the results of the popular vote. Meaning your vote counts.
Under the Spitzenkandidaten (“lead candidate”) process, the European political parties have each nominated candidates for the role of Commission President. The party receiving the most votes in the elections will then (in theory) have its candidate confirmed. It’s a relatively new process, which was first introduced during the 2014 European Parliament elections. The idea is to create a strong link between the votes cast by citizens during the election and the position of the European Commission President (which had previously been decided in closed backroom deals).
What would our readers ask the Spitzenkandidaten? We’ve taken questions and comments from our community and put them to the various would-be Commission Presidents for their response. See what they have to say below!