EU leaders have said they plan to review the way they choose EU commission presidents in the future after having found themselves left with little room for manoeuvre following a parliament-pushed process.
Shortly after nominating Jean-Claude Juncker to be head of the EU executive, leaders agreed conclusions indicating they want to derail the Spitzenkandidat system.
“Once the new European Commission is effectively in place the European Council will consider the process for the appointment of the president of the European Commission for the future, respecting the European treaties,” the statement says.
Under the Spitzenkandidat system, used for the first time this year, the top candidate of the most popular party after the EU vote – in this case Juncker of the centre-right EPP – is nominated for the post.
It represents a stretching of the wording in the EU treaty, which only binds EU leaders to take election results into account.
However, leaders are also aware that they contributed to this being the first EU summit where they had no free hand to choose a commission president.
They went along with the process of political parties nominating candidates only to see it taking off and becoming more cemented as the various candidates attended debates and toured member states, while presenting themselves as running for office.
