European Parliament. Photo by Artur Roman
As the dust begins to settle on a European election, the results of which shook up traditional alliances and saw the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) lose their traditional hold over the parliament, the search to fill the EU's top job is underway.
The key job, that of European Commission, is a five-year post currently occupied by Jean-Claude Juncker.
EU treaty law says that the European Council of 28 national leaders should nominate a candidate for commission president, then allow the 751-members of the parliament to ratify the decision.
The procedure appears simple but is fraught with internal wranglings between rival ideological blocs, nation states as well as individual leaders.
EU leaders are meeting today, less than two days after the votes were counted, for a dinner announced some weeks ago by European Council President Donald Tusk. The meeting will give the Council an opportunity to gather potential names and move ahead of the new parliament that is still finding its feet.
There has been a long running tension within the EU over who has legal prerogative to appoint the European Commission President.
A senior EU official said of the process: "The European Council cannot guarantee in advance that it will propose one of the lead candidates. There is no automaticity in this process. The treaty is very clear: it is the autonomous competence of the European Council to nominate the candidate, while taking into account the European Elections and having held appropriate consultations."
In previous years, the EPP and S&D were able to form a coalition to form a majority. Following the election, the two blocs are unable to do so and must bring in the Greens or liberal ALDE in order to govern.
In 2014, the "spitzenkandidat", or lead candidate, was chosen on the basis of being the leader of the largest bloc of parties. Despite Jean-Claude Juncker not being universally popular, his selection has a democratic credibility.
A more fragmented parliament, as well as major divisions between national leaders has made the process more difficult this time around.
There have been indications that Berlin is unhappy with Mr Tusk's apparent rush to "pre-cook" the Presidential nominations. Earlier this week, the Secretary General of the European Commission, Martin Selmayr talked of the necessity of having "democratic patience" when finding the right candidate.
One EU diplomat said: "The notion of neatly parcelling everything out and having some kind of semi-finished product going in to tomorrow evening is not going to wash."
The larger question mark hangs over Emmanuel Macron. The French President suffered a defeat to Marine Le Pen's National Front at the elections. Nonetheless, he has formally thrown his weight behind the ALDE liberal group, which puts him in the position as being a potential kingmaker.
Today's meeting is unlikely to put forward any names but will set the tone for the discussions to come.
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