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EU summit: Marathon leadership talks delayed again

  • July 01, 2019

A European Council summit to choose a new European Commission president and other top posts was delayed again on Monday, after leaders were unable to reach a compromise during more than 18 hours of talks in Brussels.

EU Council President Donald Tusk, who is leading the talks, said leaders would reconvene on Tuesday.

The impasse is centered on the nominee to succeed outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. This requires the approval of 21 of the 28 EU leaders, representing 65% of the bloc’s population.

Once EU leaders nominate candidates, these must be approved by the European Parliament.  

Read more: What are the top EU jobs and who decides on them?

A package of options

Current European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans of the Netherlands, who was the Progressive Alliance of Socialists Democrats’ (SD) lead candidate in May’s European elections, was rumored to be the favorite in the race to succeed Juncker as president of the Commission.

World Bank chief executive Kristalina Georgieva was rumored to be Tusk’s likely successor as president of the European Council, with Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager or the current interim Prime Minister of Belgium, Charles Michel, in the running to be the bloc’s next foreign policy chief.

The SD’s Timmermans was the compromise choice in a deal reportedly forged by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G20 summit in Japan, and which also included other top EU posts. The deal was also backed by Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Frans Timmermans of the Netherlands was backed by France and Spain

Frans Timmermans of the Netherlands was backed by France and Spain

But the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), which finished ahead of the socialists in the parliamentary elections, was not backing down on its support for their candidate, German lawmaker Manfred Weber.

Among the EU leaders who have reportedly objected to Timmermans are Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia and Ireland.

The outgoing vice-president of the Commission has spearheaded EU efforts to crack down on authoritarian-leaning eastern EU members through the bloc’s rule of law norm.

“The vast majority of EPP prime ministers don’t believe that we should give up the presidency quite so easily, without a fight,” Ireland’s center-right Prime Minister Leo Varadkar had told reporters on Sunday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had sent a letter to the EPP warning that Timmermans’ nomination would be “a historical mistake.”

  • Manfred Weber

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Manfred Weber (EPP)

    The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) — the largest faction in the European Parliament — has picked Manfred Weber, its German parliamentary party leader. He has the backing of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though considered the front-runner, Weber is little known on the international stage, and his language skills are considered poor.

  •  Frans Timmermans

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Frans Timmermans (SD)

    Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s first vice president, will lead the campaign for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists Democrats (SD). Weber’s main rival promises to bring the bloc closer to ordinary voters at a time when Britain’s looming exit is one factor behind the nationalist movements across the EU.

  • Margrethe Vestager (Reuters/Y. Herman)

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Margrethe Vestager (ALDE)

    Margrethe Vestager, 51, is one of seven lead candidates for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats. As the current EU commissioner for competition, the Danish MEP has taken on corporations like Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet. It’s also been said that she served as the inspiration for the main character in Borgen, a Danish series where a woman becomes Denmark’s first female leader.

  • Jan Zahradil (imago/Belga)

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Jan Zahradil (ECR)

    The third-largest group in the EU Parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), has just one candidate: Jan Zahradil, chairman of the Czech ECR delegation. Zahradil, 65, is affectionately known as “Forrest Gump” for cycling from Prague to Strasbourg for a session of the European Parliament and for once running 1,300 kilometers (about 800 miles) across the Czech Republic for charity.

  • Ska Keller

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Ska Keller (Greens/EFA)

    The Greens/EFA is the seventh largest group in European Parliament, so the German is a long shot to become European Commission president. The Greens have proposed a job share, with two candidates serving for two-and-a-half years each. The most favorite to join Keller is Dutch lawmaker Bas Eickhout.

  • Violeta Tomic (picture-alliance/ANP/M. van Hoom)

    Candidates for European Commission president

    Violeta Tomic and Nico Cue (GUE/NGL)

    The EU’s left-wing groups will be headed by Spanish trade unionist Nico Cue and Violeta Tomic (at left). Tomic is a deputy in Slovenia’s National Assembly, best known as a TV presenter and actress. She entered into politics in 2014 and has been an advocate for LGBT rights and stronger citizens’ rights in Europe. Cue grew up in Belgium after his family was forced to flee Franco’s Soain.

    Author: Keith Walker


A balancing act

EU leaders must also select nominees for the European parliament chief, the European Council presidency, foreign policy chief and the head of the European Central Bank (ECB), a post that may be chosen at a later date.

EU members must take into account political affiliation, geography, population size and gender, when deciding the makeup of the bloc’s leadership.

EU institutions are supposed to impartially represent the interests of all member nations on the global stage and in Brussels.

amp,jcg/jm (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-summit-marathon-leadership-talks-delayed-again/a-49423472?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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