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E.U. Leaders Meet in Wake of Election Setbacks After Vote Upset, E.U. Grapples With Filling a Key Post
(about 9 hours later)
BRUSSELS — European Union leaders met here Tuesday night under intense pressure to reform the way the bloc is run after populist upstart parties on the right and left surged in four days of legislative elections ending Sunday. BRUSSELS — European Union leaders consigned a decision about who should lead the organization’s most important agency to a potentially lengthy and acrimonious selection process on Tuesday, two days after populist upstart parties on the right and left surged in legislative elections.
Looming over a dinner attended by the leaders was the drubbing handed to mainstream parties in the voting for the European Parliament by groups like the National Front in France and the United Kingdom Independence Party, which are seeking to diminish, or even dismantle, the six-decade effort to integrate the Continent. Looming over a dinner here attended by the leaders was the drubbing of mainstream parties in the voting for the European Parliament by groups like the National Front in France and the United Kingdom Independence Party, which are seeking to diminish, or even dismantle, the six-decade effort to integrate the Continent.
The main issues at the dinner, the leaders’ first meeting after the balloting, which ended Sunday, were expected to be how to craft future European Union policies in the face of such anti-European election results, and how soon to choose a new president of the European Commission to replace the departing one, José Manuel Barroso. The victory of the far-right National Front was a “trauma for France and for Europe” and had “tarnished the image of France,” said President François Hollande, who spoke at a news conference after the dinner.
Selecting the next head of the commission, the bloc’s main policy-making arm, marks “a critical moment for the E.U. in terms of signaling how leaders are responding to the rise in populist anti-E.U. sentiment,” said Simon Hix, a professor at the London School of Economics. Many voters worried about “their identity in the future” and had turned to the National Front for comfort, Mr. Hollande said. But he insisted that France as a whole was not turning its back on the union.
But the dinner could mark the start of another potential crisis for the union over the issue of who gets the right to choose the candidates who run its day-to-day affairs, including the president. In the wake of the election, the main issues at the dinner, the leaders’ first meeting after the balloting, which ended Sunday, was how to develop future European Union policies in the face of such anti-European results and how soon to choose a new president of the European Commission to replace the departing president, José Manuel Barroso.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, batted away suggestions that leaders immediately nominate Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, whom she had supported during the campaign and whose center-right party won the election.
Ms. Merkel said she had not forgotten Mr. Juncker. But she said European Union leaders had decided to look at a range of candidates for president as part of a process laid out by the union’s treaties as well as to take other issues into account, like placing more women in top jobs and addressing the wishes of all European Union leaders.
“We have not been able to finish this tonight,” she said, adding that the process might last into the summer. After being pressed about whether she still favored Mr. Juncker, Ms. Merkel betrayed uncharacteristic frustration: “Two days after the election you expect me to have everything solved — I think that’s probably going too far.”
Mr. Hollande said at a separate news conference that the discussion among leaders on Tuesday night was about what the commission president should focus on, not about that person’s identity.
Mr. Hollande also said his government would push to have the workings of the union’s bureaucracy in Brussels “reorientated” and “simplified” to make the 28-nation bloc more comprehensible and appealing to ordinary citizens.
The selection of the next head of the commission is a delicate matter for the leaders, marking “a critical moment for the E.U. in terms of signaling how leaders are responding to the rise in populist anti-E.U. sentiment,” said Simon Hix, a professor at the London School of Economics.
For the first time, the leading parties in the European Parliament have formally put forward their own candidates for that job.For the first time, the leading parties in the European Parliament have formally put forward their own candidates for that job.
One of those is Jean-Claude Juncker of the center-right European People’s Party, which won 213 seats. Mr. Juncker is expected in coming days to try to form a majority. The runner-up group in the polls was the center-left Socialists and Democrats group, with 190 seats. One of those is Mr. Juncker of the center-right European People’s Party, which won 213 seats. Mr. Juncker is expected in the coming days to try to form a majority. The runner-up group in the polls is the center-left Socialists and Democrats group, with 190 seats, whose candidate is the current president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz.
“If you want to respect the new democratic way of choosing commission presidents, you’d pick Juncker, but Juncker looks very much business-as-usual when it comes to responding to growing public opposition to Europe,” said Professor Hix. “So it’s a very tricky dilemma.” “If you want to respect the new democratic way of choosing commission presidents, you’d pick Juncker, but Juncker looks very much business-as-usual when it comes to responding to growing public opposition to Europe,” Professor Hix said. “So it’s a very tricky dilemma.”
The commission presidency is a powerful role, and the bid by the Parliament to decide the post marks a sharp break with the past, when it was assumed that government leaders would assign the top European Union jobs behind closed doors. The commission presidency is a powerful role, and Parliament’s effort to decide the post is a sharp break with the past, when it was assumed that government leaders would assign the top European Union jobs behind closed doors.
The president, who will eventually need the approval of the Parliament, gets to set the tone at the top of a body that proposes legislation in a huge number of areas, including European Union migrants’ rights, social security and bankers’ bonuses, and gets to represent the bloc jointly with the president of the European Council, the group representing European Union leaders, at important international gatherings. The president, who will eventually need Parliament’s approval, sets the tone for a body that proposes legislation in a huge range of areas, like workers’ rights and bankers’ bonuses, and represents the bloc jointly with the president of the European Council, which represents European Union leaders, at important international gatherings.
Importantly for national governments, the president also plays a key role in allocating portfolios like trade, competition, financial services, monetary affairs and digital policy at the top of the commission’s hierarchy. Crucially for national governments, the president also plays a major role in allocating portfolios like trade, competition, financial services, monetary affairs and digital policy at the top of the commission’s hierarchy.
But there are deep misgivings, particularly in Britain, about whether Mr. Juncker — a former prime minister of Luxembourg who has strong federalist leanings — could deliver the kind of changes to the European Union that would enable Prime Minister David Cameron to persuade voters to keep Britain in the bloc in a promised national referendum on the issue in 2017. In her remarks, Ms. Merkel suggested that the next commission adopt a more robust industrial policy, including taking a far more aggressive stance toward American companies like Google to improve the union’s competitiveness.
Yet another factor weakening the claim by the Parliament to name the commission president is that both Mr. Juncker’s group and the Socialist group, which has put forward the current president of the Parliament, Martin Schulz, as its candidate for the commission, lost seats in the election. “We can ask questions as to Google — that is important with regard to antitrust laws,” Ms. Merkel said. “We can actually, in a way, define the standards in the marketplace” so that Europe “can actually hold its own in this new world,” she added, identifying the aircraft manufacturer Airbus as among the most successful examples of the ability of Europe to generate successful companies.
Even so, other leaders on Tuesday, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain and Chancellor Werner Faymann of Austria, expressed some support for Mr. Juncker. In some ways, the hesitancy in nominating Mr. Juncker was no surprise.
There are deep misgivings, particularly in Britain, about whether Mr. Juncker could deliver the kind of changes to the European Union that would enable Prime Minister David Cameron to persuade voters to keep Britain in the union in a promised national referendum on the issue in 2017.
Yet another factor weakening the claim by the European Parliament to name the commission president is that both Mr. Juncker’s group and the Socialist group lost seats in the election to insurgent parties.
As in the past, the leaders will probably agree on the nominee by consensus, but that could take time.As in the past, the leaders will probably agree on the nominee by consensus, but that could take time.
One expected outcome of the dinner on Tuesday evening is that leaders will give Herman Van Rompuy, the head of the European Council, a mandate to negotiate with the leaders of the main parties in the Parliament to find an acceptable president. The outcome of the dinner on Tuesday was for leaders to give Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, a mandate to negotiate with the leaders of the main parties in Parliament to find an acceptable president.
Among the center-right alternatives to Mr. Juncker discussed in recent weeks are Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish prime minister; Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland; and Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister. Some diplomats have also suggested that nominating a woman to the post might break a looming deadlock with the Parliament. That has generated speculation about the prospects for Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund; Dalia Grybauskaite, the newly re-elected president of Lithuania; and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister. Among the center-right alternatives to Mr. Juncker discussed in recent weeks are Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish prime minister; Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland; and Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister. Some diplomats have also suggested that nominating a woman to the post might break a looming deadlock with Parliament. That has generated speculation about the prospects for Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund; Dalia Grybauskaite, the newly re-elected president of Lithuania; and Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister.
The process of selecting the commission president is also likely to determine candidates for other top jobs, including replacements for Mr. Van Rompuy himself, a new chief of European Union foreign policy to replace Catherine Ashton of Britain, and a new head of the so-called Eurogroup of finance and economy ministers from countries that are part of the 18-member currency bloc. The process of selecting the commission president is also likely to determine candidates for other top jobs, including replacements for Mr. Van Rompuy, a new chief of European Union foreign policy to replace Catherine Ashton of Britain, and a new head of the so-called Eurogroup of finance and economy ministers from countries that are part of the 18-member currency bloc.
The biggest decision maker is Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, who will first need to strike consensus at home to prevent any decision from unsettling her coalition with the Social Democrats, according to Mujtaba Rahman, the director for Europe at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm. But some commentators have emphasized that ignoring the results of the elections by choosing an outside candidate could create further resentment of Brussels.
But some commentators have emphasized that ignoring the result of the elections by choosing an outside candidate could create further resentment of Brussels. The people have been told that they are voting indirectly for the next commission president, said Corina Stratulat, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Center, a research organization in Brussels. “So how will you be able to justify in the end not going for one of the candidates?” she said. “If this time, it didn’t lead to what was promised, then why would people engage with it next time?
The people have been told that they are voting indirectly for the next commission president, said Corina Stratulat, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Center, a research organization in Brussels. “So how will you be able to justify in the end not going for one of the candidates?” she said. “If this time, it didn’t lead to what was promised, then why would people engage with it next time?”