EU leaders at a meeting on Monday evening, June 17, failed to agree on candidates for key EU positions, including a second term for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. This is reported by Politico with reference to three EU diplomats, UNN reports.
Details
At the meeting, EU leaders reportedly did not support Ursula von der Leyen's candidacy for another term as head of the European Commission, despite assurances from French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in recent days that they were close to an agreement.
"There is no deal today," European Council President Charles Michel told reporters late Monday night after the leaders' dinner.
One European diplomat said that although the negotiators had agreed on three names, the leaders would continue discussions later, probably at their next meeting on June 27-28.
According to Politico, after the European Parliament elections, a consensus has been formed on the candidacy of German President von der Leyen for a second term as head of the European Commission, Portuguese President Antonio Costa as head of the European Council, Maltese President Roberta Metsola as head of the European Parliament, and Estonian Foreign Minister Kaija Kallas.
In recent weeks, European leaders have emphasized the need for continuity in light of Russia's war in Ukraine and the potential return of former US President Donald Trump. "But hopes of a quick deal evaporated Monday night as the European People's Party, which won the European Parliament elections, demanded more concessions and more power in top positions," Politico writes.
As expected, the EPP wanted to reappoint von der Leyen and Metsola, who belong to the political family. In addition, the EPP offered the Socialists to divide the term of office of the President of the European Council into two 2.5-year segments, with the EPP taking one of them.
This, in turn, irritated the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), who had hoped to get Costa the post. "And shortly after the talks stalled, the blame game began," Politico notes.
"Part of it was hubris on the part of the EPP," said one EU official. "By asking for a mandate of only 2.5 years, it created a huge perception problem for [the Socialists], who would have been put in a difficult position. The EPP did not play this in the best way. This will be difficult to resolve.
The official added that Michel did not help in the discussions. "Instead of helping to find a deal, he kept raising other issues," the official said.
According to several EU diplomats, another reason for the failure of the talks was that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was unhappy with the way the evening had gone. Meloni, who was one of the few leaders to emerge from the European elections with a victory, was unhappy with the attempts of other EU leaders to remove her from the talks.
The Italian prime minister "challenged the type of approach to the discussion," said an official familiar with the discussion. She proceeded "from the assumption that today's informal meeting was to be a moment to discuss what to do in light of the signals of the European elections, and then, from that starting point, to start discussing names for top positions, not the other way around," the official added.
Speaking at the G7 late last week, Macron, who is one of the key brokers of the top jobs deal, said he believed Monday's talks could lead to a fundamental solution.
"This is a discussion that is taking place between 27 countries; we have called each other; [a deal] seems possible in the coming days, in the coming week," Macron said.
Later, Scholz repeated these words, saying that he believed the decision on top positions in Brussels would be made quickly. "Now a decision will be made very quickly on the most important positions that need to be filled in Europe so that the European Union can act," Scholz said in an interview on the sidelines of the G7.
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