IS THE Spitzenkandidat process dead? And if so, who killed it? In 2014 the EU grudgingly accepted a convention by which the “lead candidate” of the largest parliamentary group becomes president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive. At the European Parliament elections last month most of the major party "families" duly presented their nominees. In theory, this would make allocating the EU’s various big jobs after the election easier. With the commission’s head selected, as it were, by the voters, leaders could fill the other posts, like the presidencies of the European Council (the body containing the union’s heads of government) and the European Central Bank (ECB), in a way that created a politically and ideologically balanced package. That, indeed, was the main task of last night’s discussion at the European Council summit in Brussels.

It did not work out that way. The summit ended in deadlock as the Spitzenkandidat system came under attack from various directions. The convention has always looked rather shaky. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was not a fan in 2014 and was bounced into supporting it that time. But the story of the current mess really begins in Helsinki last November, when the European People’s Party (EPP), the main centre-right grouping and, then as now the parliament’s largest force, picked Manfred Weber as its lead candidate. The Bavarian lacks televisual charisma, has no executive experience and has alienated centrists and centre-leftists with his long association with Viktor Orban, Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister. He made little impact during the European election campaign. A survey published on Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank, found that only 4% of voters in France or Germany were motivated to vote by the Spitzenkandidat system.

All of which provides the pretext for opponents of the system, and of Mr Weber, to rip it up. That they proceeded to do yesterday. Ahead of the summit the leaders of the parliament’s second- and third- largest groups, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe (RE, formerly the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, or ALDE), announced that they would not back him. That greatly dimmed his prospects, as an incoming commission president needs the backing of a majority of the European Parliament.

At the dinner on June 20th eleven of the 27 national leaders making the choice (Britain’s Theresa May is not involved) blocked his nomination. An irritated Mrs Merkel, who is backing Mr Weber, responded that in that case the other groups’ lead candidates or de-facto lead candidates—namely Frans Timmermans of S&D and Margrethe Vestager of RE—should also be ruled out. This aggravated Mark Rutte, the liberal Dutch prime minister, who characterised the stance as unreasonable. But it was probably a statement of reality: there is no clear majority in the parliament without EPP votes, and the EPP will be reluctant to back an alternative lead candidate if their own is rebuffed.

With no majority for Mr Weber, Mr Timmermans or Ms Vestager—President Emmanuel Macron of France declared all three “ruled out” on leaving the summit—there is no consensus around a commission president candidate in either the parliament or the council. And without that first building block it is tricky to allocate the remaining big jobs. So the meeting broke up in the early hours of June 21st having settled on no nominations. Leaders will meet again on June 30th, shortly before the new parliament convenes on July 2nd and ahead of an expected vote on the nominated commission candidate two weeks later.

Adding to the sense of frustration at the summit was leaders’ inability to reach agreement on a common commitment to a zero-carbon EU by 2050, with objections from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia getting in the way.

What next for the big jobs jigsaw? Mr Weber is not yet entirely out of the running but his prospects look poor. Even Mrs Merkel seems to be resigning herself to this, acknowledging that leaders needed to find a commission candidate capable of commanding the broad majority necessary: “We do not under any circumstances want a crisis with the parliament,” she insisted last night. The German chancellor is expected to entertain alternative figures at the next discussion. One possible compromise candidate is Michel Barnier, a French EPP politician and the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. But it may be that other names bubble up, perhaps at the G20 summit in Japan next week, where several major EU leaders will have the chance to cut deals before the next gathering in Brussels. One option has the leaders parking the discussion about the commission job and settling instead on candidates for the council and the ECB, then working back from there. An outlandish theory doing the rounds even has Donald Tusk, the European Council president, eventually putting himself forward to lead the commission.

The deadlock, like the inability to form consensus on the climate goals, is a sign of the times. Europe is a more fractured place than in the past, with bigger divides between member states and a more fragmented political landscape both in the national capitals and in the incoming European Parliament (the successful commission president will probably need the backing of three or even four groups to secure a majority, where two used to suffice). Some member states are more used to this than others. The Netherlands, which has experienced political fragmentation for longer, and to a greater extent, than most, took seven months to form its last government—as Mr Rutte reminded waiting journalists last night, urging patience. Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach (prime minister) was less emollient, despairing: “It’s quicker to elect the pope.”