European politics
Euro MPs fear Macron’s democratic drive has limits
French leader declines to align himself with any established EU political groupings
First on the Pnyx hilltop in Athens, then at the Sorbonne university in Paris, Emmanuel Macron was adamant last year: Europe needs more democracy. But EU parliamentarians may find that the French president’s repeated clarion calls stop short of letting them choose the bloc’s most powerful executive.
French aides and EU diplomats say Mr Macron is unwilling to give the EU parliament a free hand in deciding who should replace Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president in 2019. The reticence suggests a possible departure from the process of picking so-called lead candidates — Spitzenkandidaten — that led to Mr Juncker’s nomination in 2014.
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