Thread by @Staedtler

Right. Put the kettle on, and we might have a quick run through of what the European elections mean, and what it all adds up to

Did you ever know that the President of the European Commission (currently Jean-Claude Juncker) is decided by the European elections?

You didn't? Brace yourself

First off the European elections create the parliament which sits for a term of five years.

The current parliament is about to come to an end, whereupon jean-Claude Juncker will be replaced by one of the MEPs elected next week across Europe

What you've got in Europe is different political parties in each country, and in the European parliament all the national parties of similar nature form an international group.

There are some independents, but there are seven main international groups.

So for example, the Lib Dems in the United Kingdom sit with the ALDE group in the European parliament.

So all the Lib Dem equivalent parties around Europe elect all their own MEPs, and they all join together in the Parliament to make up a formal group.

So, where does the Commission president come into it?

The President of the European Commission is chosen by parliamentary majority. Usually the lead candidate of the largest group.

So the European elections will decide both the national representation as MEPs, and who has the majority group, and which MEP of that group replaces jean-Claude-Juncker to become the European Commission President for the next five-year parliamentary term.

And that is how that works.