Let me ask you a question…
Do you know this woman?
Her name is URSULA VON DER LEYEN.
I must confess, I had never heard of her… till a month ago.
And just like me, neither had most Europeans.
So this woman is about to become the next EU Commission President.
She will be the equivalent of Donald Trump in the European Union: the most powerful person
in Europe.
And this is already official: on November 1st, she will take the oath.
And OK, OK, I know what you’re thinking… especially those of you who voted in the European
elections…
Who is this woman?
I mean… where does she come from?
Why… her?
Well, I think Erik can give us more information.
Of course, Simon.
As you know, on May 2019 Europeans went to the polling stations to choose the members
of the European Parliament.
These are legislative elections similar to the Midterms in America or the parliamentary
elections in the UK.
So, the name of Ursula Von der Leyen wasn't on any ballot.
Back then, she was just the Defense Minister of Germany.
Germans knew her but other Europeans… not so much.
And I know what you’re thinking… this process is completely legal.
In EU elections, Europeans don’t get to choose the executive power—just the legislative
one.
So, technically, anybody could become president of the commission as long as the Parliament
accepts him or her.
In other words, this is totally possible law-wise… but politics-wise, it is kind of weird.
Just to give an example: many people in the UK complained about Boris Johnson becoming
the Prime Minister.
But, to be fair, Johnson is well known and he was a member of the parliament.
The situation with Von der Leyen would be like choosing the mayor of Liverpool as Prime
Minister just because.
And yes, it is true, Von der Leyen’s appointment is a historical event: she will be the first
woman to rule Europe.
Her name will appear next to other pioneers like Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher.
And maybe she’ll become a big historical figure like them.
She might become a great president.
But today’s question is…
Can we say the European Union is a real democracy if Von Der Leyen was chosen without being
voted in?
What’s the EU Commission’s president’s role?
Today we are going to answer those questions, but before we do, let’s take a look back
at the history.
THE BRUSSELS BUBBLE In the year 1992, the Maastricht Treaty was
signed.
We could say this was the moment when the European Union, with its capital in Brussels,
started.
Until that moment, the European Single Market was only what the name suggested: a market.
A very big free trade agreement that included almost all of Western and Southern Europe.
But it had almost no political power.
The European Union was a giant step because it meant that now all those countries would
be bonded by a common government.
Years later, creations like the EURO currency, the Schengen Area, and many other treaties
were possible.
And you might wonder… could we say that the EU is similar to the United States?
Does it work as a federation, as a confederation?
Well… it is hard to say.
In fact, European institutions are really hard to understand.
And usually the media doesn’t really help with this.
You often hear news saying ‘Brussels said this’ or ‘Brussels demands that thing’
but, in fact, there are 3 institutions based in Brussels and all three are different from
one another, with different roles.
But don’t worry.
You can understand it all very easily with an example you all know: Article 13.
In case you don’t know, Article 13 is the common name for that EU directive on copyright
that affects YouTubers so much.
I’m sure you heard a lot about it.
But this time, let’s not focus on what it says, but instead on how it got passed.
It all starts with the EUROPEAN COUNCIL.
This is the place where the prime ministers of all the EU member countries meet and say
‘OK, guys, we need a legislation to regulate online copyright’.
They write some general guidelines and send it to the next guy: the EUROPEAN COMMISSION.
The commission would be the equivalent of the White House or Downing Street: this is
the executive power in Europe.
They have a president, a vice president, and some commissioners that are similar to a minister
or a secretary of state.
So those guys read the guidelines written by the COUNCIL and write a legislative proposal,
which would be the first draft for legislation.
Once they’re finished, they send it to the legislative body, which is the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
This parliament works in a very similar fashion to the US capitol or the house of commons
in the UK… but it has something unique.
Its members cannot come up with their own ideas.
They can only discuss the proposals sent by the commission.
For example, in the US, Ocassio Cortez is only a congresswoman, but she can come up
with her Green New Deal and try to make it pass through Congress.
A European MP couldn’t.
This means that the EU Parliament is much weaker than a normal one.
So coming back to the Article 13… after the European Parliament discusses it, they
come up with their own version of the law.
But there are still many details to polish.
If you remember the video we made about article 13, a small detail in a piece of legislation
can change an entire industry.
So this is where we get to the trialogues.
Trialogue is a process where representatives from those three institutions—the council,
the commission, and the parliament—meet again to discuss the law.
And finally, we have the final, polished and discussed legislation.
The final stage is when the trialogue sends this law back to the parliament.
In this case, the MEPs can vote yes or no, but they cannot add anymore amendments.
So, as we said before, in this system, the Commission has a lot of power because they
are the only ones who can send a legislative draft to the parliament.
This is why this is such a very important question…
WHO gets to choose the president of the Commission?
And here is where the BIG debate starts.
The president is chosen by the EU Council and ratified by the Parliament.
That is, the prime ministers of all the EU countries get to decide who the president
will be and then the parliament votes in favor or against.
This leaves the parliament in a very weak position because they can only say yes or
no, but, again, they cannot propose anybody.
And this is why, 5 years ago, some politicians proposed the SPITZENKANDIDATEN system.
In this system, each political party running for the elections must have one candidate
for President.
So if you vote for, say, the social democrats, you know that they’ll fight for this specific
candidate to be the EU president.
Sounds fair, right?
Well… there is a problem.
Many political parties don’t agree with this.
Think about it… right now, the council can choose anybody to be president.
With this proposed system, they could only choose from a very short list of SPITZENKANDIDATEN
proposed by the parties.
So for years, the SPITZENKANDIDATEN system became sort of a gentlemen’s deal.
Parties kind of followed this system, but it wasn’t written down anywhere.
This is how the former EU President, JEAN CLAUDE JUNCKER, was elected in 2014.
His made a coalition government between social democrats and the People’s party.
And now you might wonder…
What happened during the 2019 elections?
Well… what usually happens with gentlemen’s deals… some gentlemen just break them.
In this case, the Social democrats and the People’s party didn’t have enough seats
to make a government.
They needed the support of the liberals… and liberals don’t want the spitzenkandidaten
system.
But… why don’t they want it?
And why did they end up choosing the German Defense minister?
Let’s have a look, shall we?
SPITZENKANDIDATEN?
NON MERCI In Brussels, they call it the EU Top5 jobs—the
5 most powerful political positions.
Those positions are: the president of the Commission, the Vice president who deals with
foreign affairs, the president of the Parliament, the president of the Council and the president
of the European Central Bank.
These 5 guys are the ultimate decision makers in Europe.
So the question is… who gets to choose them?
The answer is the Council.
Again, the council is made up of the prime ministers of all the member countries.
Then they need the approval of the Parliament.
With the spitzenkandidaten system, they would have a bigger say in this because, at least,
the parties can say who the eligible candidates are.
So who is in favour of this?
Of course, the biggest political parties.
Who is against it?
Well… think about it.
Macron’s party rejects Spitzenkandidat process Macron, the French president, belongs to the
liberal party, which is the third Group.
In other words, not a big deal.
But, as the President of the second biggest country in Europe, he has a strong position
on the council.
Basically, having the second largest economy in the Union gives you a lot of leverage to
negotiate with the other countries.
This is why usually we talk about the French-German axis.
Those two economies usually lead all the negotiations.
So, basically, Macron has a big incentive to keep the power of the council as it is
now.
And Germany, being the largest country both in population and in economics, is happy too.
So, at the end of the day, Macron and Merkel sat together and said…
‘No spitzenkandidaten… we choose a German Commission president and a French president
for the European Central Bank’.
And since Germany and France have the most leverage on the council, the rest of the countries
said ‘Amen’.
And this is when Ursula Von der Leyen came into
the picture.
Basically, she’s the perfect poster child for the European Union: she’s German but
she was born and raised in Belgium, Speaks 5 languages and has friends everywhere.
Basically, she’s the kind of charismatic person who everyone wants to be around at
a cocktail party.
So as soon as they introduced her to the members of the council, the council accepted her.
And I know what you’re gonna say…
Come on, Simon!
That can’t be it!
You see, when we make political analyses, we often try to use economic data, surveys,
and complex strategies to understand a politician’s behaviour.
We often forget that politics are carried out by humans like you and me.
So, sometimes, something as stupid as telling the right joke to the right person at the
right cocktail party can drive big political decisions.
In Europe, this kind of political maneuvering has a name: the Brussels Bubble.
And who did they choose for the President of the European Central Bank?
Well… in this case, a French woman, Cristine Lagarde, the former IMF president.
This is a great deal for Macron.
Basically, he’s killing two birds with one stone.
He puts a French person in power, and he makes sure Lagarde won’t run against him.
Christine Lagarde, la présidente rêvée des Français
The rest of the top Jobs went to Spain, Italy, and the liberals.
But… let’s be honest here, the biggest winners were Germany and France.
David Passoli, an Italian social democrat, will become the next EU Parliament president.
Josep Borrell will become the vice president, and the Belgium liberal, Charles Michel, will
lead the Council.
So, OK, now the big question is… what is the next step?
How does Ursula Von der Layene get to choose the commissioners?
Let’s have a look.
VON DER LEYEN’S TEAM According to many surveys, the main reason
why Britons voted in favor of BREXIT was not regulations or immigration but a lack of citizen
control over EU affairs.
And… after everything we’ve said, we must admit there is a little bit of truth to that.
And you could say…
Oh no!
The parliament still could have rejected Von der Leyen as the president!
Well… look at how people can change their opinion on the Brussels Bubble.
THIS is what the People’s party Spitzenkandidaten, MANFRED WEBER, said one day…
Weber urges EU lawmakers to push back against decisions made in 'diplomats back rooms'
And look at what he said just one month later…
Germany's Weber urges EU lawmakers to back von der Leyen in top job vote
So it doesn’t seem to be a debate.
At least, not a transparent one that we can see in the parliament.
It seems that most of the decisions are make in a private room in that Brussels bubble.
So now you might wonder… what happens next?
What can we expect from Von der Leyen once she gets into office?
The first thing she’ll have to do is to name the commissioners.
As we said before, the commissioners are the equivalent of a minister or a secretary of
state in the European Union.
There must be 28: one for each member country.
This means that, for example, you couldn’t have two German or two Italian commissioners.
But, of course, it’s not the same being the commissioner in charge of finance, a very
important spot, as the one in charge of humanitarian aid.
It will be Von der Leyen’s job to decide who does what.
So far, all we know is that the new Government of Europe will have parity between genders:
there will be as many female commissioners as male commissioners.
And this is where the EU Parliament has the biggest say.
Because, right after Von der Leyen names her commissioners, they will have to pass a test
on the Parliament.
And yes, those tests are not simple.
It’s common for some commissioners to not pass it.
For example, in 2014, the Slovenian candidate failed at the Parliament’s hearings and
they had to choose another person from the same country.
So, yes, Von Der Leyen will not have it that easy.
In this regard, it’s a very effective check and balance.
But now the questions go to you…
Do you think Macron did the right thing by avoiding the spitzenkandidaten system?
Are the euroskeptics right to complain about the lack of democracy in Europe?
Please, leave your answers in the comment section below.
Also visit our friends from reconsider media.com, the podcast that provided the vocals in this
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