With the agreement of European leaders on the three names who will occupy the most important positions in the EU, the wheels of the next five years in the European Union have been set in motion. And now that?
At a meeting of European Council shorter than expected, leaders of the 27 EU member states They have approved the candidates for the most important positions in the bloc: Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, Antonio Costa as President of the European Council and Kaja Kalla as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
The approval was the first step of a mechanism that will begin to work to tie all the loose knots in the composition of the next leadership of the European Union.
The choice of Antonio Costa by the Council is final and will take over from the current president, Charles Michel, on December 1st. Kallas and Von der LeyenHowever, they still need the support of the European Parliament before being officially named.
The ex prime minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallaswill appear before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliamentwhere it will need the support of the majority of its members in a vote, scheduled for September, that will confirm it as aHigh Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy: “My objective will now be to approach the MEPs and gain their support,” he declared in a post an X after the Council meeting.
The incumbent Ursula von der Leyen will also face a vote in Parliamentbut must obtain the absolute majority of the chamber in plenary before receiving the green light to resume his position at the head of the European Commission.
When will the new EU positions be voted on in the European Parliament?
The vote is scheduled for lPlenary session from July 16 to 19 in Strasbourgin which he must obtain 361 votes from the total of 720 MEPs that make up the newly elected parliament. The vote will be secretso it is difficult to calibrate the camera support in advance.
However, the leaders of the three largest political groups in the last term –European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and Renew Europe– have already given their approval to his appointment, which means that the majority of their MEPs will probably vote in favour. To get the necessary votes, Von der Leyen said he would address delegations and MEPs who do not belong to this main coalition.
“Also I will work intensely with the national delegations because experience shows that within the groups there are different voting patterns“said von der Leyen after the Council agreement.
And possible ally in the vote are the Greenswhich with 54 MEPs have shown themselves open to negotiate.
“We believe that the only way to create a stable pro-European, pro-democracy and pro-Ukrainian majority is for the four games“declared the co-president of the Greens Bas Eickhout after the elections at the beginning of the month. He added that the only way to create a stable majority is to include a fourth party in the agreement.
Los verdes, against Giorgia Meloni
The group, however, set a clear red line before starting talks and declared that would not enter into any type of political pact in which the ECR group participated of Giorgia Meloni.
The socialists too They refused to enter into a coalition agreement with any far-right group, be it the ECR or ID. The president of the group, Iratxe García reiterated his position in a meeting with von der Leyen this Wednesdayin which he said that he respects the process of ‘top candidate‘, according to which the party that obtains the best results in the EU elections can appoint the leader of the Commission, but he warned that there is no blank check.
MEPs from Georgia Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, they could also offer their support to Von der Leyen, but whether they will do so remains unknown. The fact thate Meloni abstained from the Council in connection with the appointment of von der Leyen –instead of rejecting it outright, as he did with the appointments of Costa and Kallas– suggests that the Italian prime minister has left the door ajar to persuasion.
If Ursula von der Leyen receives the Parliament support in Julywill start working on the composition of his next European Comission.
Who are going to be the new commissioners of the European Commission?
Although there are no final names yet, some countries have presented their candidates for the positions. This is the case of France, since President Macron expressed yesterday after the Council meeting that his desire is reappoint the current French Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Ireland also announced earlier this week its intention to appoint Finance Minister Michael McGrath to replace Commissioner Mairead McGuinness as Irish representative in the Executive.
The Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergiswas also appointed by his country to the position and has received the support of Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP.
Parity in senior EU officials
For 2019, von der Leyen asked Member Statess that they would appoint a man and a woman for the positionin order to ensure that it could appoint a balanced commission between men and women. So far, no country has done so.
ADVERTISINGAppointments will not be made until September, once the College of Commissionerseach nominated candidate will need the support of the European Parliament to officially take possession.
