The Making of a European President

235 Pages·2014·6 MB·English

by  Priestley J.

The Making of a European President
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The Making of a European
President
Nereo Peñalver García
OfficialoftheEuropeanUnion
and
Julian Priestley
FormerSecretary-General,EuropeanParliament
©NereoPeñalverGarcíaandJulianPriestley2015
Foreword©JacquesDelors2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-47673-9
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To the campaign and communication teams of the PES, the
EPP, ALDE, the Greens and the European left, who built the
first pan-European presidential campaign out of next to
nothing with their commitment, intelligence and enthusiasm
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Contents
ListofTables ix
Foreword x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
AbouttheAuthors xv
ListofAbbreviations xvi
Prologue 1
1 TheFragileStateoftheUnion,2014 3
1.1 AportraitoftheUnionaftersixyearsofcrisis 3
1.2 Aunionfallingapart?Theincreaseindivisions
betweenandwithinmemberstates 6
1.3 Theincreasinggapbetweencitizensandpoliticians 7
2 TakeMetoYourPresident,orWhatIstheRoleofthe
PresidentoftheCommission? 9
2.1 Thenatureofthebeast:Regulatoryauthority
orpoliticalexecutive? 9
2.2 Thechosenmenandhowtheygotthere 12
2.3 Apresidencyoraprimusinterpares?Thechanging
roleandstyleoftheCommissionpresidency 20
2.4 RestructuringanenlargedCommission? 31
2.5 AllthePresident’smen(andwoman) 33
Conclusion 34
3 AModestProposal:HowtheIdeaofLeadCandidates
Emerged 38
3.1 Howtheargumentplaysout 38
3.2 HowappointingtheCommissionPresident
haschangedinprincipleandinpractice 44
3.3 Howthelinkwiththeelectionsended
upintheTreaty 49
3.4 Howthejumpwasmadefromalinktotheelections
toafirstpresidentialelection 54
vii
viii Contents
4 TheIdeaEntersthePoliticalArena 59
4.1 Europeanpoliticalparties,thebroadestofchurches 59
4.2 Thefirsttentativesteps 62
4.3 TheSocialistconversion 64
4.4 Thepartiesplaycatch-up 67
4.5 TheCommissiongivesitsblessing 72
5 HopefulsandRunners:AbouttheCandidates 75
5.1 Thepartiesmaketheirpicks 96
6 OntheRoad 105
6.1 Thestaggeringchallengeofapan-Europeancampaign 105
6.2 Behindthescenesinthecampaigns 113
6.3 Thecandidatesontour 123
6.4 Whatthecandidatessaid 129
6.5 Somecontroversyonthecampaigntrail 131
6.6 Thedebates 132
6.7 Mediaandcommunication:Somethingisdifferent
thistime 140
7 DeconstructingtheResults 144
8 TheLadyIsforTurning,orHowtheBattleWasWon 153
9 AnExperiencetoBeRepeated?WhatHappenedHere
andWhatHappensNext? 183
9.1 Whatchanged? 184
9.2 Whatcanandshouldchangenexttime? 191
Notes 199
Bibliography 210
Index 212
Tables
2.1 ThePresidentsoftheEuropeanCommission(own
elaboration) 13
ix