On the blog “Der (europäische) Föderalist”, our Senior Researcher Manuel Müller compares the lead candidates’ campaigns in the last two European elections. While Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz repeatedly emphasized their unity on important issues in 2014, there was real controversy in 2019. Polarisation vitalised the election campaign and helped to sharpen the parties’ profiles. After the election, however, it prevented the Parliament from rallying behind a candidate – and ultimately led to the failure of the lead candidate procedure.
Read more here.
