The Law and Politics of Electoral Reform

The Treaties of Paris and Rome envisaged the possibility of direct elections to the European parliamentary assembly from the outset. Since the early 1960s, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been active on this issue and in 1976 they got satisfaction, with the Act on the direct election of the European Parliament. Since then, the European Parliament has constantly tried to obtain its reform in order to reinforce the European dimension of this election, and to strengthen its own powers within the Union’s political system. It has met with little success, due to its own divisions and those of the Council. It nevertheless continues to request a reform of the 1976 Electoral Act, and the Spitzenkandidaten procedure is now central to its initiatives. The European Parliament would like to see it institutionalised and to create a legal obligation for the European Council to appoint the ‘leading candidate’ of the winning European party as President of the European Commission. This request is linked to many other proposals, aiming to reinforce the supranational nature of the ballot, to mobilise voters or to elect some MEPs on transnational lists. This chapter aims to take stock of this complex debate, which has been the subject of recent initiatives by the European Parliament, and has also been raised by the Conference on the Future of Europe. It will also highlight the uncertainties and ambiguities that accompany a possible institutionalisation of Spitzenkandidaten.