If there was a "Europe's Got Talent" show, it would have been removed from TV screens years ago as a rigged competition that rewards mediocrity, according to Reuters editor and analyst Paul Taylor.
Few things diminish the European Union's appeal to its citizens and the rest of the world like the secretive process of filling the bloc's top posts every five years.
Winners are chosen after a late-night negotiation tussle not so much because of experience, managerial skills or expertise, but because no one feels powerful enough to veto their choice, because they cross out the right answers, and because those who this is decided by the promised services in order to vote for them in return, Taylor claims.
The election panel consists of the heads of state and government of the 28-member bloc, some of whom may be candidates themselves. Their failure to agree on who will be the EU's new foreign minister and European Council president last Sunday looked chaotic, but not a disaster.
They will try again at the end of August and may have slightly more qualified candidates.
However, in Taylor's opinion, the first round brought to light some features of a murky system in which criteria such as party affiliation, gender balance, the proportion of small and large countries and fair distribution between North, South, East and West are weighted more than ideas or abilities.
The President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, watched with displeasure as he tried to forge an agreement in which it is difficult to reconcile all factors when only two or three positions are at stake, and a consensus of 28 states is required.
The summit ended in a stalemate as Poland and the Baltic countries demanded that one of the prominent positions go to a candidate from one of the former communist countries that have been in the Union for ten years.
Federica Mogherini (41), who has been Italy's foreign minister for only four months, seemed to be approaching the post of EU foreign minister with the strong support of Socialist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi until remarks were heard from the east, including that she was inexperienced and that is too soft on Russia regarding the Ukraine crisis.
The key thing that recommended her to lead EU diplomacy, apart from her youth, was that she is a woman from the left of the center and would be a counterweight to the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker - a man from the ranks of the center right.
The President of Lithuania, Dalija Grybauskaite, openly said that she will not vote for a "pro-Kremlin" candidate.
"In the future, let Van Rompuy send us an SMS"
Renzi was so unhappy that he failed to translate his recent victory in the European Parliament elections into a prominent position for Italy, that he said that in the future Van Rompuy should send leaders text messages that a deal is not possible in order to save them the expense of airplane tickets.
Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (47) was initially the favorite to succeed Van Rompi, but France was bothered by the fact that her country is not a member of the Eurozone, and the position of President of the European Council entails presiding over the summits of the single currency zone.
According to Taylor, in such a complicated race, the early favorites are often left on the sidelines, and in the end, surprise candidates emerge when there is no time to calmly assess how well they fit the given positions.
Taylor points out that the election of the EU's first high representative for foreign policy in 2009 to also be vice-president of the Commission and head of the European External Affairs Service, which was just being created at the time, was a caricature of those pitfalls.
The main leaders of the EU agreed that the position should be given to a Briton, hoping that London would nominate the then Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, who was highly regarded by his colleagues.
"If Ashton is the answer, what was the question?"
However, Miliband decided to stay at home in the hope of becoming the leader of the Labor Party, so the post was given at the last minute to Catherine Ashton, then the European trade commissioner with no experience in foreign policy.
As one disillusioned European diplomat commented: "If the answer is Catherine Ashton, then what was the question?"
Ashton struggled to impose authority among the major European diplomats, to their apparent satisfaction. A weak successor would suit them perfectly.
Although Ashton has had some success, brokering the first agreement between Belgrade and Pristina and leading negotiations on an interim nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, critics accuse her of too often failing in actions in the European neighborhood.
They vowed not to have a strong personality
Considering the suboptimal appointment process, it is a real miracle that one of the main EU officials was a great leader.
Still, Jacques Delors, who was elected in 1984 after leaders rejected another Frenchman they saw as too much of a federalist, has been the most effective EU chief since the bloc's founding - in a decade of leadership, he built a common market and the foundations for a single currency - the euro.
After Delors, some governments vowed in secret never to elect such a strong figure again. His successors were chosen in part because of their willingness to bow to the big member countries.
Van Rompuy himself entered the race after the failed candidacy of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the position of President of the European Council.
Nevertheless, Taylor humorously concludes that this system of electing EU officials has some advantages, given that, unlike Blair, who might have been a pompous foreign policy player running around the world, Van Rompuy mostly stayed at home and patiently managed to reach compromises that have kept the eurozone together in the debt crisis.
No self-respecting company would choose a director like this
No self-respecting company, civil service or charity would elect a president, chief executive or financial director the way the EU does, says Taylor.
There are few applicants, and there are no job interviews or opportunities to showcase the program. Candidates often have to deny that they are interested in the position they are vying for for fear of political humiliation at home if they are rejected.
Eurosceptic politicians cite behind-the-scenes personal deals as evidence of a "democratic deficit" in Europe and a lack of connection between voters and EU institutions.
However, possible alternatives such as the direct election of the holders of the main positions in the EU or the possibility for the member states to elect a president who would be free to assemble a team of the greatest talents are unacceptable for the 28 national governments.
To add to the irony, the body that is supposed to represent common European interests, the European Commission, is the last bastion of sovereign equality - each country gets one commissioner.
"It's hard to imagine Germany or France - not to mention Britain - allowing the President of the Commission to choose, say, a prominent economist who is critical of the government or a trade expert from an opposition party, no matter how brilliant," says Taylor.
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