What Are the Directions of the EU Integration Process?

Just before the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections many authors have indicated their exceptional nature. In this article the author attempts to analyze how these particular characteristics and fi rst decisions taken after the elections by the key EU level actors may shape the EU integration process in the coming years. The article focuses on how the fragmentation of the EP may infl uence the choice of the European integration directions in the near future. One of the first observed effects of this fragmentation was the failure of leading candidates system during the appointment process of the Commission President. Another one is Ursula von der Leyen’s political programme for the European Commission, built on the strong awareness of the need to create a governing coalition between the EP and the European Commission. Acknowledgment of the challenge of the EP diversity by the New Commission President may have a positive effect on the EU-level democracy, however with a decrease in the efficiency of the EP legislative process.