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  • The European Union and the choice of the president of the commission
    Publication . Sampaio, Nuno
    Despite the ‘Sptizenkandidaten procedure’ was adopted in 2014, in 2019 the European Council broke with this method returning to a more intergovernmental process in the choice of the President of the European Commission. Many authors believe that the ‘Sptizenkandidaten method’ was fundamental to assure the legitimacy of the supranational institutions. However, this paper argues that this outcome is not surprising, as it results from the balance between the supranational and national institutions that coexist in the EU. To explain the argument this paper ask the following research questions: (1) What are the differences between 2014 and 2019 that may explain this evolution? (2) What does this process tells us about the political nature, the prospects of evolution, and the concepts of legitimacy and democracy of the European Union? The paper will unfold as following: in the first section it analysis the theoretical elements that explain the likelihood of change. The next three sections it will look at the empirical elements – independent variables – that changed the balance of power of the European political parties and towards member-states leading to this outcome. Those elements are (1) new perspectives of powerful political leaders; (2) new institutional balances within the European institutions; and (3) the new distribution of power in the European Parliament.1
    2018-08-01Working paper Open access Show more