The European People’s Party (EPP) candidate for EU Commission President Manfred Weber isn’t backing down from his bid and urged the European Parliament not to let the decision take place in “diplomats’ backrooms.”
“It would be a huge setback if decisions in the EU now go back to diplomats’ backrooms,” Weber told German newspaper Die Welt.
Weber is banking on what is known as the Spitzenkandidat, or lead candidate system, to win the Commission presidency. But last week, Socialist and Liberal groups in the Parliament said they would not back Weber. Apart from that EU leaders effectively eliminated the three lead candidates at a summit where they failed to decide on the bloc’s top positions, pushing the discussion to another gathering next Sunday.
To break the deadlock, a special EU summit will take place on June 30. The bloc’s leaders will have to agree on a candidate before July 2 when the European parliament’s new MEPs sit for the first time.
“Citizens sent a clear signal by voting in the European elections. The turnout rose massively, in some places it doubled. It would be very disappointing now if major decisions in the European Union would take place in diplomats’ back rooms,” the European People’s Party lead candidate told Welt.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a backer of Weber, tried to leave open the possibility that there could be a Spitzenkandidat revival if leaders in Parliament cut a deal. But French President Emmanuel Macron did not mince words about his dislike for the Spitzenkandidat process, whereby the lead candidate of the top political group ultimately becomes Commission president.
Weber told Die Welt that now it depends on MEPs, adding that the Spitzenkandidat principle is vital for the “urgently needed democratization of the EU.”
