Election of Commission President: how it could be and how it was in 2019

The paper investigates the origin of the Spitzenkandidat Procedure, which is aimed at promoting the candidate of the European Parliament parties to the post of Chairman of the European Commission. The author confirms the hypothesis of a permanent deficit of the democratic control in the activities of the European Union by the fact of the failure of the Spitzenkandidat procedure in 2019. The paper highlights the possible reasons for this failure – unsuitable candidates, imperfection of the procedure, loose composition of the European Parliament - as an initial hypothesis for political scientists who will give a detailed assessment of this campaign.