nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/51d9f3c4a7a95b4e DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 240403s2024||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/51d9f3c4a7a95b4e doi eng 342 23 Citino, Ylenia Maria Author aut (orcid)0000-0002-3804-9673 The Spitzenkandidaten Practice in the Spotlight - The Constitutional Nature of an Erratic Informal Rule Citino, Ylenia Maria Verfassungsblog 2024-04-03 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier Ten years have lapsed since the first successful attempt to launch the Spitzenkandidaten practice in 2014. With the European political parties midway through selecting their lead candidates once again, the upcoming European elections raise questions about the constitutional nature of this informal practice. The following comment aims to enquire what consequences, given the evolving dynamics of the practice, can be attached to a potential failure to designate a Spitzenkandidat. In particular, I argue that only if the SK process evolves into a constitutional customary rule, it is possible to conceive a duty upon the European Council to consider appointing the leading candidate from the party winning the elections of the European Parliament. CC BY-SA 4.0 Customary rules EU EU EU Elections Europawahl Lead candidates Spitzenkandidaten (DE-588)10290611-7 gnd EU (DE-588)4113482-5 gnd Europawahl Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/the-spitzenkandidaten-practice/ raw object