Cameron is right about Juncker but fails to present a solution

Anna Sonny, 13 June 2014

The struggle for agreement amongst EU leaders on the election of the President of the European Commission highlights the difficulty of maintaining real democracy within the EU. But as Prime Minister David Cameron points out in his article for the Irish Times, most Europeans will be glued to the World Cup matches over the next few weeks anyway, paying little attention to all the fuss being made in Brussels over Europe’s top job.

Cameron’s article will appear in newspapers in the Irish Republic, France and Germany, and makes the case for why Jean-Claude Juncker is not the right man for the job. The Prime Minister criticises Spitzenkandidaten – the process of main political groupings in the European Parliament promoting lead candidates for the Presidency of the Commission. The idea of it is that European voters, by voting for an MEP in a particular political grouping, are ‘showing support’ for a lead candidate, who is chosen by MEPs, and are in some slight, roundabout sort of way, voting for the Commission President.

But the chain of Spitzenkandidaten shows how far away the European electorate are from the decision-making elite if they only have a roundabout say in choosing a candidate for one of Europe’s most powerful positions.

Cameron is right in saying “Mr Juncker did not stand anywhere and was not elected by anyone.” So what then, is his solution to the problem? Bold leadership apparently – but he does not propose any practical solutions. He wants to choose another candidate, which is fair enough given Juncker’s attitude towards Britain – but how? The reason for all the fuss is that the process of choosing a President isn’t democratic – this means that nobody is accountable, which leaves room for ongoing disagreements and endless inconclusive meetings. The EU has a defined regulation for almost every issue under the sun – except for choosing the President of its own Commission. The process of choosing the President needs to involve citizens directly, not indirectly. Surely it would take some bold leadership to suggest this, but Cameron doesn’t go this far.

This is the same old story with the EU, a fight for consensus amongst the elite while the citizens don’t have a say. They aren’t involved where it matters, so why pay attention? If this is EU democracy at work, no wonder so many Europeans didn’t bother to vote.