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A Green German politician (and a smart one at that) and former MEP rightly attacking overblown criticism of how @vonderleyen was voted into office - in the process he nails how constitutional change works 1/2
@vonderleyen The European Parliament strengthened its position - using its powers under the treaties - by insisting on a Spitzenkandidat. However, this time around they didn’t find one who convinced even the EP. No majority for Weber, Timmermans or Vestager. 2/2
@vonderleyen If they couldn’t find someone that they could get behind, how can they now blame the Council for not getting behind “their” candidate (who?). I say that as someone who was very disappointed 3/2
@vonderleyen “non-Spitzenkandidaten”, by the way, can also make surprise entries in fragmented national Parliaments trying to build coalition governments. As in Italy: M5S and Lega couldn’t settle on Di Maio or Salvini. So: enter Conte 4/2
@vonderleyen What was the mistake of the EP? It overstretched its hand. It saw its power granted by the treaty and thought it cannot lose, and can order. And neglected the power granted to the Council. So what’s the leson? 5/2
@vonderleyen The EU system is one of checks and balances. In the first act the Council overplayed its power and lost. In the second act the EP made the same mistake. The third act has to be cooperative action 6/2
