European leaders close deal on sharing out top posts without Meloni’s support

Ursula Von der Leyen he will repeat a second term at the head of the European Commission; former portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa keeps the presidency of the European Council; and the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallaswill replace Josep Borrell as High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Although in theory it is not part of the package, there is an understanding that the popular Maltese Roberta Metsola continue two and a half more years at the head of the European Parliament.

However, the cast has not had the support of Giorgia Melonithe leading representative of the radical right in the EU. Despite the efforts of the other leaders to convince her, the Italian prime minister – who heads the third power in the EU and one of the founding countries – has refused to join the consensus because she had been excluded from the negotiation. Meloni has voted against Costa and Kallas and has abstained in the case of Von der Leyen. For his part, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbánvoted against Von der Leyen, abstained with Kallas and supported Costa.

[La ‘gran coalición’ busca sumar a Meloni al pacto sobre el reparto de altos cargos de la UE]

“The proposal formulated by the Popular Party, the Socialists and the Liberals for the new leadership of the EU It is an error in the method and in the substance“I have decided not to support her out of respect for the citizens and the signals they have given us in the elections. We continue to work to give Italy the weight it deserves in Europe,” Meloni has justified himself.

The discussion on the new leadership of the EU began at 10:00 p.m., after a long day in which European leaders spoke about Ukraine, the Middle East, Defense and the 2024-2029 strategic agenda. At that moment, Von der Leyen and Kallas have left the room and the second has delegated its vote to the Finnish Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo. After just over an hour of debate, the white smoke has arrived.

Due to the death of his wife’s father, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezdid not attend the European Council and delegated his vote to the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

In reality, the agreement was closed last Tuesday in a videoconference meeting between the six negotiators: the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the polish Donald Tusk on behalf of the EPP; Sánchez and Scholz for the socialists; and Emmanuel Macron and Mark Rutte representing the liberals. lto ‘grand coalition’ brings together 23 of the 27 EU governments, which represent 80% of the European population and has almost 400 seats in the European Parliament. A sufficient majority to carry out the appointments.

The Italian prime minister was so enraged at being excluded from the negotiations that she did not answer Mitsotakis’ calls on Tuesday to inform her of the deal. In a belligerent speech to parliament, Meloni predicted a “fragile majority” for Von der Leyen’s second term for having excluded the radical right and demanded more power for Italy.

During Thursday’s summit, European leaders – particularly those from the EPP – have been trying to appease Meloni. “Nobody respects Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Italy more than I do. It was a misunderstanding (…) There is no Europe without Italy and there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni, it is obvious.“said Tusk, who maintains that the intention of the negotiators of the ‘grand coalition’ was only to “facilitate” the decision for the 27.

“It has never been our intention to exclude anyone or offend anyone.. I have a lot of respect personally for Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy. Italy is a very important country in the EU,” said Mitsotakis. “The Twenty-Site are equally important, but we wanted to make the decision easier,” apologized Chancellor Scholz.

In contrast to the effort they have put into trying to bring Meloni into the consensus, European leaders have ignored the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. His ‘no’ to Von der Leyen was already taken for granted because he holds the German responsible for the freezing of community funds to Hungary systemic risks to the rule of law.

Upon his arrival at the summit, Orbán accused the EPP (the political family from which he was expelled last term for its authoritarian drift) of ignoring the results of 9-J, which in his opinion imposed a shift to the right, by making a pact with the socialists and the liberals. “The EPP has built a coalition of lies and deceit with the socialists and the liberals. We cannot and will not support this shameful agreement. This is not what Europeans voted for,” has said.

For his part, the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, who like Meloni belongs to the family of the European Conservatives and Reformists, has supported the distribution. “For the Czech Republic it is crucial that the distribution respects not only the political balance, but also the geographical one. The proposed names meet these criteria. Furthermore, I know them all personally, they have a positive relationship with the Czech Republic and I have very good experience working with them“, has written on the social network.

Following his appointment by European leaders, the next step for Ursula von der Leyen It is his confirmation in the European Parliament, where he needs an absolute majority (361 of the 720 seats). The ‘grand coalition’ has around 400 seats, but there are always leaks of votes, so the German coalition seeks to add more support to guarantee a sufficient safety net.

Meloni’s abstention gives him room to continue negotiating the support of the 24 MEPs of Brothers of Italy. The vote is scheduled for July 18. Rome aspires to a powerful vice presidency in the community Executive of economic or industrial content, according to what its Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, has said.

For his part, António Costa no longer needs any additional formalities to become President of the European Council. At the previous summit on 17 June, the EPP, relying on its wide electoral victory on 9 June, demanded that his mandate be limited to two and a half years so that the post would be passed on to a Christian Democrat during the second half of the legislature. However, in the end the negotiators have agreed follow the usual practice and be renewed for five years.

Finally, Kaja Kallas will be vice president of the European Commission as well as High Representativeso it must still be submitted to the examination and vote of the European Parliament, which must be ruled by a simple majority by the entire college of commissioners presented to them by Von der Leyen.