Conference of Presidents statement on Commission president election

The Conference of Presidents held a meeting on 27 May 2014 ahead of the informal dinner of EU heads of state and governments scheduled for today, and is committed to the following. Declaration Number 11 related to Art 17.6 and 17.7 TEU states that "the European Parliament and European Council are jointly responsible for the smooth running of the process leading to the election of the President of the European Commission.

"Representatives of the European Parliament and of the Council will thus conduct the necessary consultations."

"According to the letter and the spirit of the Treaty, and taking full account of the results of the European elections, we commit ourselves to a dialogue and consultations amongst the leaders of the political groups in the House, with the aim of determining the European candidate to become the next Commission president from the political family able to form the necessary qualified majority in the European Parliament.

"The candidate of the largest group Jean Claude Juncker will be the first to attempt to form the required majority.

"On this basis, we invite the European Council, to start inter-institutional consultations in conformity with Declaration 11.

The decision has been taken with the support of political groups representing 645 Members in the current legislature and at least 561 in the one which will start on 1st July.

The Conference of Presidents decided that Daul (EPP) and Swoboda (SD) would hand over the statement to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy today and inform him of the decisions of the Conference of Presidents as set out in the statement above."