Palmer, J. (2014) “After The European Elections – How Will The EU Leadership Respond?“, Social Europe Journal, 27 Μαΐου.
Following the dramatic results of the elections to the European Parliament, the focus now shifts to whether the European Institutions and governments are capable of effective response. They will need to react radically and rapidly even if the election post-mortem EU leaders’ summit in Brussels produces little except hand wringing.
It would be fatal if EU leaders were panicked into retreating from the first small step to a more democratic system of EU governance – the election of a Commission President. Any veto by EU governments of the candidate who now wins a European Parliament majority to become President of the Commission would send a message of utter cynicism to EU voters.
Relevant posts:
- Piedrafita, S. & Lauenroth, A. (2014) “Between Apathy and Anger: Challenges to the Union from the 2014 Elections to the European Parliament“, Politics and Institutions, EPIN Papers, 20 May.
- Piedrafita, S. & Renman, V. (2014) “The ‘Personalisation’ of the European Elections: A half-hearted attempt to increase turnout and democratic legitimacy?“, Politics and Institutions, EPIN Papers, Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), 11 April.
- Grabbe, H. and Lehne, S. (2013) “The 2014 European elections: Why a partisan Commission president would be bad for the EU“, Centre for European Reform, 14 October.