MEPs urged to voice choice of candidate in EU vote

The Eu ropean Commission has called for greater disclosure from MEPs on their choice of candidate for the position of Europe an Commission president in the 2014 European Parliament elections.

The commission said the proposal would “better inform voters about the issues at stake in next year’s European Parliament election”.

Voters across Europe go to the polls in May 2014 for the European Parliament elections, the first since the Lisbon Treaty.

The treaty strengthened the role of the European Parliament, including its role in electing the president of the European Commission.

The parliament will now elect the president of the commission on the basis of a proposal by the European Council, taking into account the results of the European elections.

According to a recommendation adopted by the European Commission yesterday, political parties should nominate a candidate for European Commission president in the next European elections and should display their European political party affiliation. In addition, national political parties and their MEP candidates should inform voters of their preferred candidate during the campaign.

'More democratic'
Speaking in Strasbourg yesterday, EU vice-president and justice commissioner Viviane Reding said the proposal would make Europe "much more democratic".

If political parties disclose their preferred candidate, “citizens will have a real choice and an opportunity for a real debate around political figures”, she said. “It will strengthen the links between EU citizens and the democratic process of the union.”

She said the proposal to hold the European elections on the same day across Europe, and the nomination of party candidates for commission president, would increase voter turnout. Some 43 per cent of Europeans voted in the last European Parliament elections.

Ms Reding said a Eurobarometer survey released yesterday found that lack of information was one of the major reasons for low voter turnout.

Some 62 per cent of those surveyed said having party candidates for commission president and a single voting day would help bolster turnout.

“I am convinced that voter turnout will increase for the European elections if people have a real choice – a real choice of candidates, which can mobilise and polarise the political debate, and a real choice of policies,” Ms Reding said.

The link between national political parties and their European political grouping should be made much clearer, the commission said, stressing that next year’s elections “should be about European issues, and not be used or abused for national reasons or to express frustration vis-a-vis a national government”.

The current term of the European Commission comes to an end towards the end of next year. Commission president José Manuel Barroso, a member of the European People’s Party, was re-elected for a second term in 2009.

Next year's elections will also see a reduction in the number of MEPs to 751, a drop of 15, in line with the terms of the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland, along with 11 other countries including Portugal and Belgium, is expected to lose one MEP, bringing the number of Irish MEPs to 11.