The Italian Prime Minister expressed her opposition to the agreement to re-elect the president of the European Commission
The presidents and prime ministers of the 27 EU countries have arrived in Brussels with and agreement already closed about the new leaders of the European Union. After trying and failing last week, six negotiators – the Polish Donald Tusk, the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the German Olaf Scholz, the Spanish Pedro Sánchez, the French Emmanuel Macron and the Dutch Mark Rutte – had a phone call earlier this week for reaffirm your list of candidates.
The candidates on the table are the German Ursula von der Leyen for the Community Executive, the Portuguese António Costa as president of the European Council y Kaja Kallas as head of Foreign Affairs. “I expect some debate, but the three centrist political families reached an agreement. I think the agreement will be like that, but we still have to see it, of course,” said the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, upon his arrival.
“Ursula von der Leyen is a good candidate for the Commission“, declared the Prime Minister of Latvia Evika Siliņa upon arrival at the Brussels summit. “And Kaja Kallas would be a great candidate for High Representative.” Siliņa, who, like von der Leyen, comes from the European People’s Party (EPP ), center-right, also supported the name of António Costa to take the reins of the European Council.
Will Meloni object?
But even agreements already closed can hold surprises. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, believes that her party has been left out of the pact despite her results in the European elections, calling the decision-making process undemocratic. She has refused to speak to arrivals. Donald Tusk has tried to make peace. “One thing must be clear, no one respects Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Italy more than I do“Tusk said during his speech to the media in the Council. He added that sometimes agreements are discussed before the meeting to facilitate the process, but that the decision must be made by all members of the European Council. “There is no Europe without Italy and there is no decision without Meloni“said the Pole.
Alexander De Croo, acting prime minister of Belgium, rebuked Giorgia Meloni for questioning the distribution of senior positions. “What we need in the next five years is political stability and being able to act quickly. Then you look around the European Parliament and there are three groups that are willing to work together. This is how democracy works. You form a coalition of political groups that want to work together, that want to provide stability, that want to be action-oriented, and on that basis, they have come forward three very high quality names“De Croo, a liberal, told reporters.
“Democracy is not just about blockingdemocracy consists of who wants to work together, and these three groups are willing to work together for the benefit of all Europeans,” added the Belgian.
Leaders do not need Italy’s vote to obtain the necessary majority, but these types of decisions are usually made by consensus.
