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An awkward situation: in order to get elected, Ursula von der Leyen must promise all kinds of things on which she won’t be able to deliver — because the body to which she will preside, the Commission, is largely an instrument of the capitals, not a government. A charade.
The confusion about the institutional roles of the EP, the Commission, and the member states is profound. In practice the EU works well, under the control of the governments, especially the capitals of the big member states. /2
But in the rare moments when the national political classes and the broader public look at the EU institutions, there are all kinds of different and conflicting perceptions and ambitions coming to the forefront. /3
In order to become a more solid union, a clarification of those roles would be necessary: to end the confusion, and to introduce a much more solid arrangement of institutions with clear-cut roles. This is especially needed as the EU gets more visibility. /4
And it would bring the legitimacy that would be needed for the EU to play a bigger role. But to find consensus about the role the EU should play across the 27/28 member states -- between the publics and the elected democratic governments -- is impossible. /5
Each country has its own EU, and inside every country there are conflicting views. Some want more, some want less, some want it to focus on the economy and the market, some on defense. What has been achieved so far is a compromise between those conflicting views. /6
A pragmatic approach is to take the EU for what it is, a unique union that is very good a some things (for example to regulate the market, to provide platforms for wide-ranging cooperation, to build trust) while less good at others (foreign and security policy for example). /7
Instead of bashing the EU for what it is not, and can't do, one can focus on the things at which the EU is useful and successful, and improve the mechanisms of cooperation and joint action. And take the EU as one key institution in Europe, but accept that there are others too. /8
To overburden the existing and functioning EU with utopian visions isn't helpful; it can even backfire and lead to less unity and capability to act. Instead we should value and praise the EU for what it is -- not a state but a union "sui generis", of its own kind. /9
