Who should choose the president of the European Commission: national leaders behind closed doors, or voters through European elections? That question has a name in Brussels: the Spitzenkandidat debate, from the German for lead candidate.
What the treaty says
The Treaty on European Union says the European Council proposes a candidate for Commission president, taking into account the elections to the European Parliament, and that Parliament then elects the nominee. The phrase taking into account is deliberately ambiguous, and the two institutions have read it very differently.
How the system worked, and then did not
In 2014, the main European political parties each named a lead candidate before the election, and the candidate of the largest party ultimately became Commission president. Advocates hailed a new democratic convention. In 2019, however, national leaders declined to nominate any of the declared lead candidates, and the Parliament accepted a nominee who had not campaigned for the post. The convention proved weaker than its supporters had hoped.
Why it keeps coming back
Supporters argue the system gives voters a visible choice about the EU’s executive and strengthens the link between ballots and Brussels. Opponents counter that it hands power to party machines and ignores the balance among member states that the treaty was written to protect. Proposals for transnational candidate lists raise the same underlying question: how directly should European voters choose Europe’s leadership?