whodoicall.eu

In an interesting blog post (in French), former President of the Convention on the Future of Europe, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, raises an important question about the democratic accountability of the new post of President of the European Council:

Enfin, quelle est la relation à établir entre l’expression politique des citoyens à l’occasion des élections européennes et la désignation du Président du Conseil de l’Union ?

VGE urges the Slovenian EU Presidency to convene a high level study group to look at the issue – and underlines that democratic accountability is vital for the new position.

Not a bad idea all round, but One President is better. You don’t need any high level study groups for that. The European Political Parties can put up their candidates for Commission President before the European elections, and whichever party emerges strongest gets its person to be Commission President and European Council President.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt addressed the European Parliament on Tuesday 19th February and he expressed concerns that with a new President of the European Council (more from EUObserver) there will be no explicit EU tasks for the Prime Ministers of incoming Presidency countries. He has hence floated the idea of some sort of co-chairing arrangements. If someone like Reinfeldt is expressing such concerns, would that rule out a strong candidate for the European Council chair role? Plus if there was only One President of the EU, I’m sure he or she would be more accommodating of Member States’ requests in this regard than a European Council President wanting to develop a powerful position.

Henry Kissinger has been interviewed by Spiegel and – among other things – he gives a rather cryptic answer to the “Who do I call” question:

SPIEGEL: Thirty years ago, you asked for one phone number that could be used to call Europe.

Kissinger: … and it happened. The problem now is: Nation-states have not just given up part of their sovereignty to the European Union but also part of their vision for their own future. Their future is now tied to the European Union, and the EU has not yet achieved a vision and loyalty comparable to the nation-state. So, there is a vacuum between Europe’s past and Europe’s future.

I assume Kissinger means that the EU now has its act together on foreign policy? I would like to know whether Kissinger would have any clue about which institution actually does what – the question that is essentially th subject of this website. The second part of Kissinger’s answer is also interesting – as Member States have committed their future to the EU, the EU has at the same time failed to inspire loyalty. Maybe a strong, accountable President might help a bit?

In a clear and well argued post, Stanley Crossick at Blogactiv looks at the procedure for appointing the President of the European Commission, and the College of Commissioners. Consider how nuanced that system is, with its democratic legitimacy thanks to the involvement of the European Parliament, and set it against the complete lack of democratic accountability of the President of the European Council. Also bear in mind how closely the Parliament looked at Rocco Buttiglione in 2004 and you see it’s willing to take its mandate to scrutinise the Commission very seriously.