Last Tuesday, the European Council announced their new president: Charles Michel, the current Prime Minister of Belgium. After 3 days of debating, the European leaders agreed on Michel for running the union in the next 2,5 years, with the possibility to be re-elected. "He will, with his experience as Belgian Prime Minister, be ideal for finding consensus and building unity among member states", as his predecessor Donald Tusk states it. But what does his nationality have to do with this job? How are these people even elected? And what with the other European top jobs that will get new faces in the next days and weeks?
Tuesday, July 2nd 2019. In the Europa Building in Brussels, the European leaders announce their new President: Charles Michel, 43 years old and the current Prime Minister of Belgium. It is the most important function within the EU institutions, as he needs to prepare and lead the EU summits of the Council, which consists of the head of state of all EU members and the Commission President. Michel needs to find consensus among the leaders and solve disputes between them. He's the principal EU representative on the world stage.
Why are Belgians ruling the Union?
Michel will be the second Belgian getting the job, since Van Rompuy became the first "European President", as the function is unofficially called, back in 2010. That's 2 on 3 presidents coming from the same country of which the capital holds, by chance, most of the important EU institutions. Even though he wasn't considered as favorite before the summit last weekend, his election makes pretty much sense.
The role of President of the European Council is usually reserved for an ex-head of state of a EU member. Not only because the other heads of state choose you (out of friendship), but also because you have been taking part in the EU summits for as long as you've been the representative (prime minister or president) of your country: you know how they work and what's important. See it as an upgrade of your country presidency...
The federal Belgian elections are assimilated with the EU elections, which means that Michel's task in Belgium is theoretically over. Theoretically, because the last elections divided Northern (Dutch-speaking) and Southern (French-speaking) regions more than ever. The rightwing Flemish nationalists and leftwing French socialists can't agree on anything, making it impossible to form a federal government, which they are obliged to do. So, until then, Michel stays the Belgian Prime minister. As the federal formations took 541 (!) days back in 2010/2011, expectations are that a government won't be formed by December 1st, when Michel's first term as President of the EU Council officially starts. And thus he will need to be replaced by someone else by then.
Belgium as a mini-EU
Those regions and complexity of the Belgian politics are also a big reason for choosing a Belgian Prime minister to find consensus among the EU members and to solve disputes between them. As a federal state with 3 different regions, another 3 different communities and 3 official languages, Belgium actually operates a mini-European Union...
For beginners, Belgium has 6 parliament: The Flemish one (both the region and community are integrated in one parliament), the Wallonian one (French-speaking region), the (bilingual) Brussels one, the French community one, the German community one and the (trilingual) federal parliament. All these regions and communities have their own governments with their own responsibilities (For example, the regions have economic powers, the communities organise education and the federal government the social security).
Even though these regions and communities are pretty independent and have very different visions, they still have to collaborate on federal level, to decide on"everything that matters for all Belgians (justice, social security, army, ...). The task of the Belgian Prime minister is to find consensus among the French and Flemish politicians and to solve disputes between them, which makes it the perfect practice for doing the same on European level, where the regions and communities are replaced by EU countries, each with their own vision, culture and language.
Other EU topjobs
Even though it's the only function that's elected directly by the Council, it's not the only thing they decided last weekend. The Council proposed Ursula von der Leyen as candidate for President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell Fontelles as candidate for High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Christine Lagarde as candidate for President of the European Central Bank.
Those proposals now need to be voted for in the European Parliament, which chose the Italian David-Maria Sassoli as their new president with an absolute majority. That parliament consist of 751 members of which 694 are part of one of the European parties. Those members are elected by the European people and every EU member state has a dedicated number of seats, according to their economic importance, population and size.
The undemocratic back-room politics of Council
Even though it's rare, chances are that the European Parliament won't elect the German Von der Leyen as the President of the European Commission (the 'European Government'). Von der Leyen is presented by Tusk as the first female president of the European Commission. However, no one in Europe has ever heard of her and thus many are asking where she suddenly comes from.
"The future of Europe can no longer be decided behind closed doors", says Gonzalez Pons, spokesperson for the dominant centre-right EPP group in the parliament. With this statement, he want to focus on the non-transparent way of working by the EU Council. With the presentation of Von der Leyen, the Council completely ignored the new Spitzencandidate system, which made it possible for the EU parties to bring forward their own people for the EU topjobs. "And where are the eastern Europe candidates?", asks Pons.
"The future of Europe can no longer be decided behind closed doors"
The parliament will decide in 2 weeks wether or not Von der Leyen will become the first female President of the European Commission.
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