Every Irish Labour Party member to get a vote on our candidate for next EU Commission President
The race is just starting for the European Elections of 2019. Parties across Europe are now in the process of choosing who to put forward as candidates for the European Parliament. Backroom staff have commenced the process of drafting European-wide manifestos. Another key issue for the parties is to decide on who will be the party’s lead candidate for the President of the Commission, the SpitzenKandidat. The current Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, is the first Commission President to be chosen based on the SpitzenKandidat system. Introduced as part of the Lisbon Treaty, the Spitzenkandidat concept is that the European-wide political party which gains the highest number of seats at the European Parliamentary elections then has its lead candidate ratified as Commission President by the Union’s Heads of States. Last time around in 2014 the European Peoples Party (EPP) gained the highest number of seats in the European Parliament. Their Spitzenkandidat, Jean-Cla...