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BRUSSELS — The European Parliament has penciled in July 18 as the day MEPs could vote to elect the next president of the European Commission, the EU’s most powerful job.
Parliament’s top official, Alessandro Chiocchetti, floated holding the vote in July over lunch at a meeting of national ambassadors to the EU last Friday, two EU officials told POLITICO.
German center-right politician Ursula von der Leyen, the outgoing Commission president, is the frontrunner for the job, and has been campaigning for another 5-year term.
The Parliament is likely to be under pressure from national governments to speed up the process and stabilize the EU at a time of geopolitical uncertainty, and with American elections on the horizon.
A person with knowledge of the meeting said that Secretary General Chiocchetti said there was no definitive decision. But if there were to be a vote in July, then Thursday 18 July — two days after the Parliament has elected its own president — would be the chosen date.
Chiocchetti also said he thinks that July is probably when the vote will be held, according to the person.
In recent weeks, speculation has mounted about whether the Parliament would seek to hold that crunch vote during its first meeting in July, or seek to wait until its next formal sitting in September.
To get the job, von der Leyen — or anyone else — first needs to receive the support of a qualified majority of EU leaders, and then secure the votes of at least 361 out of the 720 MEPs.
A European Parliament spokesperson said no decision has yet been taken.
The Parliament can only vote once a majority of EU heads of state and government have officially nominated a candidate. That process is expected to be completed at a meeting of the European Council on June 27 and 28, where a package of top jobs will likely be shared out among the EU’s dominant political families.
If the vote is to be put on the European Parliament’s agenda in July, the institution’s political group leaders will formally finalize it at a meeting on July 11.
