2024 is an important election year around the world, also in Europe. The European elections held in June are crucial for defining the direction of the Old Continent; the future of the European Union (EU) is being addressed and it will be seen if an extreme right that is currently on the rise in several countries gains positions and reaches, thanks to the people, the government of the European Commission.
In community elections it is usual for the internal dynamics of the member states to weigh on the citizens' vote and for there to be less participation than in national appointments. For this reason, at the last plenary session of the year in the Eurochamber, which was held in December in Strasbourg, a report was approved - non-binding - at the request of a Spanish MEP, the social democrat Domènec Ruiz, and a German Democrat, Sven Simon, who aims to "Europeanize" and "democratize" these elections and try to encourage more participation.
Ruiz was the sole speaker of the electoral law that the European Parliament approved in May 2022 with the same objectives as this report, but the European Council has not yet given its approval to the new regulations and has not opened any negotiations with the ' Eurochamber, so this year it will not apply yet.
The current initiative includes measures that do not require regulatory changes and that can be applied if there is political will, such as giving more visibility to the Spitzenkandidaten – the German term used to designate the candidates to preside over the Commission – on ballots and posters, to the logos of the European parties, and that it is the Eurochamber that takes the initiative for the designation of the candidate to preside over the Commission, starting with the group with the most votes. "In the general elections, Pedro Sánchez does not present himself in all the provinces, but the voters know that he is the candidate; it would be to do something similar", explains Ruiz.
The European Council proposes the candidate for president and the Parliament must endorse him.
In the approved report it is emphasized that "a clear and credible link is needed between what the voters elect and the election of the President of the Commission" and the European Council is asked to "safeguard" the Spitzenkandidaten system and to "put end to agreements behind closed doors". "Let it be a more democratic system and strengthen the power of the voter", sums up Ruiz. "It is about avoiding a repeat of what happened in 2019 and that there is no candidate who has not presented himself, such as Ursula von der Leyen, who came out with only nine votes," he concludes. Since 2014, when Jean-Claude Juncker was elected, attempts have been made for the Eurochamber to take the initiative.
