Comment|The European elections should be made into commissioner elections, and the number one candidate of the winning party of the European elections should be chosen as commissioner. That way, the tension of the European elections would certainly increase, writes Brussels correspondent Jarno Hartikainen.
European the parliamentary elections will be held in just over two weeks, on June 9, and the loser of the elections is already clear: democracy.
Time after time, Finns have voted the European elections as the most boring of the elections. Five years ago, voter turnout increased gratifyingly, but even then only 43 percent of eligible voters bothered to go to the ballot box.
“Why voters are not interested”, updates journalists, politicians, researchers and political geeks. The conversation goes on over and over again, always repeating the same platitudes. “Nevertheless, these are important issues,” the discussion concludes.
Still, the message of the Finnish voters is crystal clear: they are not interested in which 15 MEPs from Finland are elected to the more than 700-seat European Parliament.
I arguethat the problem is partly that the elections are not personalized enough, and the voters do not feel that their vote has an impact on the direction of the EU.
That’s why I propose that the European elections be made into commissioner elections. The number one candidate of the winning party of the European elections would be elected as commissioner.
This could be done easily, with a mutual agreement between the parties.
Nowadays, the largest parliamentary party can appoint the commissioner. In practice, the decision is solely at the prime minister’s own discretion. Because Jyrki Katainen (kok) could appoint himself a commissioner ten years ago. Now let’s guess who Petteri Orpo (kok) decides to send to Brussels.
The practice has been in force throughout EU membership, but it hardly makes sense. Contrary to what is often thought, the Finnish commissioner does not push the government’s EU line, but his task is to monitor the interests of the entire Union.
The right to nominate the commissioner comes to the prime minister’s party on the sidelines of the parliamentary elections, and those elections are held purely on domestic issues.
In fact the parties should fight for the right to nominate the commissioner, and this fight should be on EU issues.
The power of the commissioner and the monthly salary of 30,000 euros would attract the top names of the parties to the candidate lists. There would be a new flow to the election debates.
Voters should feel that they get to choose a representative at the heart of EU decision-making, not on its periphery.
The commissioner is Finland’s representative in the commission’s highest decision-making body, the collegium. This is a very influential place, as the Commission has the right of initiative in the EU, and all its decisions are approved unanimously in the college.
This would also be apt to strengthen the legitimacy of the institutions in the eyes of the voters. So far, no Finnish commissioner has applied for a voter’s mandate in the elections.
Change would take time. The parties should agree on the new nomination practice well in advance, even before the next parliamentary elections. The model could be used in the 2029 European elections.
If the parties are really worried about turnout, the model should at least be tried.
The writer is HS’s Brussels correspondent.
Correction 24.5. 9:15 a.m.: The European elections will be held in 2029, not 2027, as was erroneously written earlier in the story.
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