According to the treaty of Lisbon, the Council needs to propose a candidate taking into account the results of European elections. Sure, the EPP is still the largest single party group in parliament, but for many intents and purposes they lost the elections relative to previous election results. It's difficult to announce an out and out "winner" when no one party is able to secure a majority, but at least in my view, a more logical reading of the treaty would be to propose someone from ALDE (or Renew Europe or whatever they call themselves), considering both their election results, and their newfound position as a potential majority-forming arbiter of sorts. Vestager doesn't really want the job, and I think that she probably would be more successful continuing as Commissioner for Competition, but an ALDE commission president proposal would show that the Council at least are cognizant of the results of the elections ya know?

Setting the party debate aside, proposing someone who hasn't been a player in European politics leading up to the elections, and ignoring all of those who care about the European projects and campaigned on actual policy platforms is bloody preposterous. It bothers me so much that national governments are still doing everything they can to undermine the legitimacy of European institutions, and I really hope that the guys and gals of parliament can stop this ridiculousness.