The Second Time Around: Status Quo and Reform of the Europarties’ Selection Procedures for Spitzenkandidaten in 2019

Abstract

In the run-up to the 2019 European elections, the Europarties put forward lead candidates for the presidency of the European Commission. These Spitzenkandidaten were at the forefront of their electoral campaigns. This chapter focuses on how five Europarties—European People’s Party, Party of European Socialists, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, European Green Party, European Left—selected their lead candidates and how these procedures have changed compared to the 2014 European elections. The results suggest that the Europarties only made relatively small procedural changes, which did not contribute to the sustainability of the Spitzenkandidaten system.