The selection of the European Commission Leadership in historical perspective

This chapter will address the Spitzenkandidaten process from an historical viewpoint. Despite its inauguration in 2014, this process represented the last stage of a much older relationship between the European Parliament (i.e., its major constituent parties), Council and Commission about the politicisation of leadership selection in the European Community/European Union. Our analysis will consider in particular the agency of the European Parliament in the appointment of European Commission presidents from 1979 to nowadays. The analysis will consider three particular periods: 1979–1994; 1994–2014; 2014–2019. The first period covers the Thorn and Delors presidencies, during a historical juncture which was marked by the first direct EP elections, the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty which greatly expanded the role of the EP as well its relations vis-à-vis the Commission. The second period covers the appointments of Santer, Prodi and Barroso, against the background of EP/Commission rising institutional struggle, constitutional debate and the Eurozone crisis. The third and last period concerns the introduction of the Spitzenkandidaten process in 2014 and its failure in 2019. Drawing on archival sources, institutional documents and oral history collections stored at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence, our chapter will show the gradual attempt by the European Parliament to influence the politicisation of the European Commission leadership, as well as the limits of this process.