The Guardian Europe's 298m voters could win the chance to vote directly for the next president of the European commission under a proposal to be debated in the new European parliament.
National governments dislike the idea, fearing the power of a leader with a popular mandate.
But the suggestion has been revived by the influential German conservative MEP Elmar Brok in response to the record low turnout of voters throughout Europe. He calls for the big political groups to field candidates, who would take their campaigns to all 15 member states in what could resemble an American-style presidential race, injecting drama and suspense into lacklustre EU electioneering. That means the political parties putting forward their candidates to be president. But I am confident that it will come about next time. A separate battle is under way for leadership of the shrunken ranks of the socialists.