The elections for the European Parliament are over.

Dit keer mijn leken overpeinzingen in de Engelse taal.

Tenslotte ondanks een vrijwel zeker komend vertrek van het Verenigd Koninkrijk uit de Europese Unie en Ierland in de toekomst als enige lidstaat met de Engelse taal als voertaal, is het Engels misschien daardoor des te meer de enige taal die in alle EU landen aanvaardbaar is als lingua franca.

En ik had het al overdacht in het Engels.

Maar volgende overpeinzingen gaan weer in het Nederlands.

The ponderings of a retired layman.

For me perhaps the most notable thing about the elections for the European Parliament was that the United Kingdom that should have left the EU on 29 May was nonetheless obliged to participate because no leave agreement has even now been reached and so its departure from the EU is delayed indefinitely (?) until the British Parliament votes in favour of one of the many options offered, none of which has been considered acceptable so far.

Or if other developments change this weird situation.

Till then they must fill their 58 seats in the EP.

A most unusual situation.

All in all I think it was not quite justified that the EP election was so much presented as confronting pro EU and anti EU voters, whereas, in my opinion, it should rather have been shown as a pro federal EU and on the other hand a pro independent states EU vote; more power centralized in Brussels or less.

The main results of the vote were that the customary majority of the Christian and Socialist Groups working together was broken and that in the coming five years a (steady) cooperation between three or more groups must be formed to reach a majority and that the sceptic EU minority has grown considerably but not enough to have real power.

The newly elected European Parliament will first elect their new President of the EP.

But according to the Lisbon Treaty which regulates the functioning of the EU the place occupied by the European Parliament in the EU picking order is (un)fairly  limited mainly to “yes or no”, though in practice far more influence has been acquired.

Far more important about  these elections, however, is that they lead to a complete reshuffle of the Positions of Power in the European Union.

The European Council, the Council of the Heads of State or Government  of the EU member states, which is the highest authority in the EU,  will after proper consultation and taking into account the election results of the EP propose a new President of the European Commission

This requires  a qualified majority (so no veto right).

The European Council will also by qualified majority choose a new High Representative of Security and Foreign Relations of the EU.

The members of the Commission will be chosen on their personal merits and positive attitude towards the EU, one national of each member state (unless the European Council decides otherwise).

The European Parliament will then vote to approve of the entire Commission, including the High Representative for Security, so not vote on individual prospective commissioners.

Apart from that on 30 November 2019 the present President of the European Council, Tusk, has reached the end of his term and a New EU President will have to be chosen by the European Council.

Furthermore, the President of the European Central Bank, Draghi, will end his term at the end of October this year and a new President will have to be appointed by the European Council.

Finally there is the ongoing Council of Ministers of the member states of varying composition in accordance with the subject dealt with and a President in rotation among the members.

Together with the newly elected European Parliament they approve or reject the draft bills  introduced by the Commission for legislation.

The commission is the only EU institution that is empowered to introduce proposals of legislation to the European Parliament.

All together the EU is an intricate and extremely bureaucratic construction of often overlapping competences, owing to the often vague and multi explicable wording of the Lisbon Treaty.

So, right now we are at the beginning of an extremely busy period of complicated lobbying, consultations and possible allocation of top functions in the EU which in the end can get the approval of the European Council (representing the member states), and in the case of the Commission, approval by  the European Parliament.

And, In view of the fact that all member states must feel adequately represented in the Commission and other EU institutions  a distribution of functions must be sought which will not cause an accumulation of power for one or more member states.

The preliminary suggestions have already started to circulate after the meeting of the European Council yesterday.

The European Union Institutions according to the Lisbon Treaty:

– The European Parliament,

– The European Council,    (heads of states + president of the commission, EU strategy, consensus)

– The Council,(ministerial level representatives of each state, varying composition )

– The (European) Commission (the excutive and overseeing branch)

- The Court of Justice of the European Union,

– The European Central Bank

– The Court of Auditors.

But  who are really in charge?

The European Council is in charge of the overall strategy but is hampered by the consensus system.

One member state can veto any proposal.

The Commission, with each Commissioner having their own field of competence, is the executive branch substantiating the European Councils strategy into draft bills for the European Parliament.

It also oversees the correct implementation of this legislation (regulations and directives) in the member states and has corrective powers in that respect.

In practice there seems to be a hint of competition between the two institutions, the main cause being the veto rights in the European Council.

The powers of the European Parliament are restricted to approving or voting down the Commission’s proposals and (informally) influencing or inducing  proposals.

Even when Parliament has passed a bill, the council of ministers can still withhold their consent and thus send a draft proposal back to the EP.

The EU, a complex and complicated construction designed over the years to cover the diverging requirements of its member states aiming at developing cohesion among them.

But all these are, of course, simply the incomplete and very personal ruminations of a retired amateur.