The 2014 election introduced the Spitzenkandidat or lead candidate process: in this system, European political parties nominate their lead candidate ahead of the European elections, allowing for citizens to directly influence the choice of the head of the European executive with their vote in the European elections. The largest party after the election is entitled to propose the name of the future President of the European Commission, to be later elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its members. This has widely been seen as a way to ‘Europeanise’ elections to the European Parliament.
The Treaty of Lisbon provides the basis for this enhanced role of the European Parliament in the appointment of the president of the European Commission. Thus, Jean-Paul Juncker became the new president of the European Commission through this system. Participation in the election was around 43 %. Martin Schulz, already president of the European Parliament since 2012, was re-elected in 2014 for the first half of the term. He was the first president of the European Parliament to be re-elected. Antonio Tajani then became president in 2017.
During the following parliamentary term, MEPs were confronted with a rapidly changing environment, both at home and abroad. In mid-2016, in an unprecedented move, a majority of British citizens decided that their country should leave the European Union. Warnings had to be issued to some Member State governments that were sliding towards ‘illiberal democracy’. The election of Donald Trump as US President in 2016 put EU-US relations under strain.
