What Highlights the choices of the New Heads of EU, Commission and ECB

The new force associations that emerged with the results of the recent EU elections on May 26^th 2019 led to political consultations and choices for the new presidents of the most critical EU supranational organizations, including the President of the Commission, the President of the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries and the President of the ECB.

All these consultations and final decisions on these positions are partly a new fertile ground for conclusions and assessments.

by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis-liberalglobe.com

These conclusions and assessments will be a guide to what they mark for the EU of tomorrow.

The developments for the new heads of EU supranational organizations

The points we need to focus our analysis are:

1. For the first time there has been political consultation between the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries and not through the European Parliament on the choice of person for the Commission Presidency, which nominated to Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen.

2. The choice to place the President of the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries as a successful Belgian politician and for the second time in the history of the European Council after the term of Van Rompuy (2009-2014).

3. The choice of previously IMF Head Christine Lagarde as President of the European Central Bank.

4. The ongoing initiative of the moves by French President Emmanuel Macron and not by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who for unknown reasons did not participate in the final stage of approval of the decisions.

Emmanuel Macron, the winner of the developments

The polls of the May 2019 EU elections showed winners and less winners. The European Liberal Party (ALDE) and the cooperating party of the President of France Emmanuel Macron were among the political sites that took the victory laurels. In addition, winners in these elections are considered the party of European Greens.

The winners of the elections and more specifically the President of France Emmanuel Macron, continued this victorious momentum by managing an important strategic victory through the procedures for the selection of persons for the top positions of the EU. We could summarize the points of Emmanuel Macron’s winning strategy in the following:

1. For the first time, a highest official of an EU member-country manages to transfer the selection process and the decisions of the European Parliament to the summit European Council of Heads of EU member-countries.

2. Emmanuel Macron’s proposal for the Head of the Commission, which is German politician Ursula von der Leyen-well known federalist as well as Emmanuel Macron-manages to be adopted by making a checkmate move towards the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had proposes to nominate this position Mr. Marcus Weber, the Head of the European People’s Party in the European Parliament. 

Moreover, with the non-selection of Marcus Weber as the President of the Commission for the first time, the principle of democratic election was violated, where the head of the first party in elections for the European Parliament should assume the Commission’s specific position.

3. To impose a request in return for the placement of Ursula von Der Lien in the Commission Presidency, the leading figure of Christine Lagarde in the ECB Presidency.

Essentially, the President of France Emmanuel Macron sought and succeeded, judging on the basis of the outcome, in the first instance to reinforce the competences of the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries in the critical decisions taken and probably with prospect this European Council to continue also in the future to take the critical decisions that concern the EU and not EU Commission.

Perhaps because the President of France Emmanuel Macron will feel more powerful in this Council knowing how to influence and bring to his views on Europe most heads of EU member-countries.

The tectonic change in the decision-making centers of the Eurozone/EU

This finding shows to us that quite possibly in the European Commission-as an EU decision-making center-Emmanuel Macron is not in a position to influence and then ask the Commissars to adopt his views on a wide range of issues, which is why he preferred the any crucial decisions for the EU to be taken at the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries.

This image in the first instance and since the crucial decisions continue to be taken in the future by the European Council of Heads of EU member-countries, marks a tectonic alteration in the decision-making centers of the Eurozone/EU.

In this case, decisions in the European Council of heads of EU member-countries will be taken according to alliances and how good are the interpersonal relations of the heads of EU member countries with the heads of groups of heads of member-countries who these leaders will be the leaders of the most influential EU member-countries, namely France and Germany.

The deterioration of the Commission’s role will be evident and will be used as an informal upgraded Euro Working Group that will carry out in detail the decisions to be taken at the European Council of Heads of EU member countries, but also secondary important decisions.

Moreover, the unchallenging winners of these developments are the Belgian politicians who succeeded in placing the successful Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, who belongs to the European Liberal Group (ALDE) and had the support of the Frenchman President Emmanuel Macron, in the position of President of the European Council. This development is the reward of the electoral victory of the Liberals in the recent EU elections.

With the choice of the French woman Christine Lagarde, in the Presidency of the ECB is first to achieve two firsts in the history of the ECB’s institution:

1. She’s the first woman to occupy this position.
2. She’s the first person not to be an economist but a lawyer.

Perhaps the European leaders in these consultations were “jealous” and adopted the US strategy, where the head of the FED was placed by Jerome Powell who is also a lawyer and not an economist.

Possibly the two choices are based on the fact that in this position it requires experience in taking initiatives, but even more so these positions require mainly politically reflective management and simultaneous political flexibility for the robust management of these two economies, which even to this day seem to have not surpassed the profound and lingering influence of the financial crisis of 2008.

Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis

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