Now is the time for Europe to elect its President!

Reacting to yesterday's failure of the European Council to nominate a new Commission President, the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe) call upon the European Parliament to elect the President at its first sitting on the 19th of July in Strasbourg.

"Once more national governments have shown they are neither effective nor democratic in deciding who should be the the head of government in Europe," stated Jon Worth, President of JEF-Europe.

"Without delay, the European Parliament should rise to the challenge of representing the citizens of Europe and decide who it would like to see form the executive of the European Union. As the only institution directly elected to make decisions at a European level, it is right that it be the European Parliament which takes this decision in an open and transparent manner."

JEF-Europe has long campaigned for a truly federal structure for the European Union with the European Commission becoming a government for the EU, held to account by the European Parliament.

"The poor turnout in last week's elections showed that people want something to change when they vote. The voice of the European people picking the next President of the European Commission would be a big step towards that," continued Jon Worth.

"Let Europe elect its President!"