The Left will have a spitzenkandidat for 2024 EU elections

This article is part of our special report Talking about the EU elections.

The Left party will internally elect a candidate for European Commission president, otherwise known as a spitzenkandidat, the co-president of The Left group at the European Parliament told EURACTIV in an exclusive video interview.

The spitzenkandidat process is laid down in the EU treaties and was used for the first time in 2014 but is not legally binding.

“We will certainly have a spitzenkandidat. We are setting up a process to designate one in the coming months,” Aubry told EURACTIV.

In 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker was the spitkenkandidat of the European People’s Party (EPP). The latter got the majority of the votes, and Juncker was elected president of the European Commission.

In 2019, Manfred Weber was the EPP spitzenkandidat; however, member states did not find consensus on Weber’s nomination, and the German Christian Democrat Ursula Von der Leyen assumed office.

This led to member states and far-right parties opposing the process, focussing instead more on national electoral campaigns.

EU election’s core priorities

When asked about The Left’s priorities for the EU elections, Aubry said it was important not to return to pre-pandemic and pre-Ukraine war narratives, where the EU pushed austerity rules in member states.

“We need to make sure we are not returning to austerity measures and austerity rules,” she said.

On other topics, Aubry also stressed the need to be “consistent” and act “faster” on climate change, which is a priority for The Left campaign, together with the protection of refugees and LGBTIQ+ minority rights.

“We need to protect the rule of law to ensure that there are rules in at the European level, and those rules that protect people first rather than companies,” or regarding climate change, to protect “the planet first, rather, again, those that are polluting across the EU”.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]