Brussels. The staffing package for top positions in the EU is in force. Who will be what, what role Olaf Scholz played, what happens next for von der Leyen.
President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen overcame the first obstacle to a second term. The heads of state and government will meet the 65-year-old German on Thursday EU Summit In Brussels, she was officially named as the sole candidate for the position and proposed to the EU Parliament for election. It is still unclear whether the Christian Democrats will actually be elected by parliament with an absolute majority in mid-July.
Capital Inside by Jörg Quoos, editor-in-chief of FUNKE’s central editorial team
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The appointment Von der Leyen it is part of a personal package that the main politicians from the three main party families of the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals finally agreed on Tuesday – the Federal Chancellor was also involved in the agreement Olaf Scholz (SPD)).
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The agreement also includes that Estonia’s liberal head of government, Kaja Kallas, will, as expected, become the EU’s foreign policy representative. The former Portuguese head of government will be president of the EU Council as von der Leyen’s counterpart Antonio Costawhich belongs to the Social Democrats.
Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa will become president of the EU Council.
© IMAGO/ABACAPRESS | IMAGO Stock
The package with the three personal data was already there EU Summit on Monday last week ripe for agreement, but an agreement was due, among other things, to surprising demands from the Christian Democrats PPE failed: With reference to her electoral victory, she wanted to replace Costa as President of the Council after two and a half years and elect a conservative to the position. The PPE has now given up on this demand for the final agreement.
Prominent negotiators played a crucial role
According to the regulations, Costa will initially be elected for two and a half years. But if he performs the role satisfactorily, he should be elected for a second term, as usual. In return, the social democrat Costa should promise to take into account the majority situation – that is, the strong position of the PPE – when leading summit meetings Heads of state and government determines the focal points. The personnel package is considered balanced because it takes into account the three main parties and maintains regional balance – with representatives from southern and eastern Europe alongside Germany’s von der Leyen.
Agreement at the highest level: Von der Leyen should get a second term
Costa, 62, left Portugal last fall after a good eight years in office as head of government corruption allegations resigned, but the suspicion was based on an error in analyzing the intercepted telephone calls, as was later discovered. Kallas, 46, was an EU MEP from 2014 to 2018 and therefore has extensive experience in Brussels. She has been in power in Tallin since 2021 and has since campaigned resolutely in Europe to provide comprehensive support to Ukraine. She calls on the EU to negotiate with Russia Vladimir Putin Don’t run away from a difficult confrontation. Putin placed Kallas on a wanted list.
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The three party families appointed prominent negotiators for the agreement: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis negotiated for the Christian Democrats and negotiated for the Social Democrats Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Liberals represented the French President Emmanuel Macron and the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Ruth.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will become the new head of EU foreign policy.
©Getty Images | Sean Gallup
The summit’s official decision is now just a formality; the qualified majority is right; Only von der Leyen has to continue to worry. The three party families that brought von der Leyen into office last time with a very narrow result, mathematically, this time also have a Parliamentary majority of 406 of the 720 seats. But because there is no faction requirement and von der Leyen’s style has upset some MPs, it is questionable whether she will get the required 361 votes.
Considerations that the German could also be elected with the votes of right-wing parties are now suffering a setback: personal negotiators agreed that von der Leyen would be the head of Italy’s right-wing government, Giorgia Melonishould go – but only in view of her government role and future Italian EU Commissioner, and not in her role as president of the far-right party Fratelli d’Italia, with its 24 members of the EU Parliament.