The EU Political System After the 2019 European Elections

This book assesses the impact of the May 2019 European elections as well as the Covid-19 pandemic on the EU’s politics, institutions, and policies. Special attention is paid to the impact of these events on the different political forces as well as on the Union’s institutional balance, its priorities and the reform of its budget and policies. Because of the many post-electoral uncertainties, the book also takes into account how the relations between the Parliament, the European Council and the new Commission have developed. Furthermore, it analyses the capacity of the von der Leyen Commission to implement an ambitious programme, especially in the context of an unfolding pandemic. The objective of this book is to study the 2019 electoral sequence (parliamentary elections, appointment of EU institutions leaders, investiture of the Commission, new legislative programme) and determine its influence on the main institutional and political challenges for the 2019-2024 legislature. In other words, the volume deals with the question of who holds the EU’s leadership after the 2019 elections and how it handles the 2020-2021 pandemic.

1. Introduction.- 2. EU Citizen Participation “in the Union’s Democratic Life”: A Policy and Legal Analysis.- 3. Higher turnout at the expense of representativeness? The 2019 European elections against the backdrop of a socio-economically biased voter turnout.- 4. Unpacking legislative turnover in the 2019 European Parliament elections.- 5. The Life and Death of Spitzenkandidaten: What Role is Left for European Political Parties?.- 6. The political regime of the EU through the prism of the confirmation of the von der Leyen Commission by the European Parliament.- 7. Dealing with fragmentation: The new political equilibrium and coalition dynamics in the European Parliament during the 9^th legislature.- 8. They are no different, they are much the same? Post-2019 inter-institutional dynamics in the European Union.- 9. The Von Der Leyen Commission: An Early Assessment.- 10. A “geopolitical Commission”: reaching a pointof inflexion?.- 11. Balancing the unbalanced? An ongoing rivalry between European Parliament and European Council.- 12. The European Parliament’s practice in scrutinizing the Commission’s delegated acts before and after the 2019 EP elections.- 13. The empowerment of the General Secretariat of the Council: a growing challenge for rotating presidencies?.- 14. The European Parliament under COVID-19: Institutional adaptation in times of pandemics.- 15. The Evolution of Central Banking in Europe.- 16. The EU budget and Recovery Plan: a chance for EU ambition?.- 17. “A Green European Wave?” Green Electoral Success and the European Green Deal.- 18. How Covid-19 Hit Brussels and Beyond: The EU’s Crisis Management Tested by a Pandemic.- 19. The evolution of enhanced cooperation in the EU: from EnCo to PeSCo (2009-2019).- 20. The End of Enlargement? The EU’s Struggle with the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries.- 21. From the Gulf of Aden to the Mediterranean sea: The institutionalisation of EU-NATO maritime relations.- 22. The EU’s embrace of geopolitics: Insights from the EU-China Relationship.