The election of the presidents of the European Commission: the 'best elected' and the worst elected? (V2)

(B2) Since the system of validation by a vote of the President of the European Commission exists, the elected candidate has had different scores

Voting rules have changed over time, with the European Parliament gaining strength as the Treaty changes. The Maastricht Treaty establishes the principle of a compulsory vote of confidence, but by simple majority. The Treaty of Lisbon strengthens the vote by passing it to an absolute majority.

First phase: simple majority

In 1994, the Luxembourger Jacques Santer passed the daisies, with 260 votes for, 238 votes against and 23 abstentions (567 deputies). He is paying for the bad mood of MEPs who are demonstrating against the British veto against Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene.

In May 1999, the Italian Romano Prodi was elected with a large majority of 392 votes for, 72 votes against and 41 abstentions (626 seats).

Second phase: absolute majority

In July 2004, the Portuguese José-Manuel Barroso was elected with 413 votes out of 711 votes cast: 251 against, 44 abstentions and 3 draws (732 seats, 367 votes needed).

In September 2009, José-Manuel Barroso was elected with 382 votes for out of 718 votes cast: 219 votes against and 117 abstentions (736 seats).

In July 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker was elected with 422 votes for out of 729 votes cast: 250 against, 47 abstentions, 10 invalid votes (751 deputies, 376 votes needed).

In July 2019, Ursula von der Leyen was elected with 383 votes out of 733 votes cast (51,3%): 327 Against, 22 Abstentions and 1 invalid ballot (751 registered out of a membership of 751 members, 374 votes needed)

The best chosen and the worst...

Since the Treaty of Maastricht, the best elected has been Romano Prodi (62,6% in absolute majority ratio) and the worst elected is Jacques Santer (who only has 45,8% in absolute majority ratio and therefore would not have been elected under the current system).

More recently, José-Manuel Barroso I was the best elected in 2004, slightly ahead of Jean-Claude Juncker in 2014 (respectively 56,4% and 56,2% of members). The worst elected is the same José-Manuel Barroso, in his second term in 2009, who narrowly passed the ramp (51,9% of the members). An identical or lower score would not be a very good sign for Ursula von der Leyen, it was indicated at the time of writing the article. The score was indeed lower: 51,3%.

In summary: from the best elected to the worst

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

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Absolute majority rule

As a reminder, Parliament must approve the new President of the Commission by an absolute majority (half of the deputies in office, plus one) of the " , ". That is, deputies registered at that time. The 'theoretical' number is not always reached, either because a deputy has not received the validation of his election in his Member State (this is the case for Catalan separatist deputies today), or in case of replacement (the newcomer is not yet there while the starter has already left). Today the number of deputies present is 747 members (out of a theoretical number of 751), ie a threshold set at 374 deputies.

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Updated on 16.7 at 19:45 p.m. with the results of the votes in the European Parliament