EuropeAnalysis

EU leaders take hours rather than days to re-elect Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president

Well-flagged package of von der Leyen, Kallas and Costa hammered out by a small group of leaders and sold as a done deal to the rest

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who will be the EU’s next foreign affairs chief, and former prime minister of Portugal António Costa who will take over as president of the European Council. Photograph: EPA/Shutterstock

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Jack Power in Brussels
Fri Jun 28 2024 - 21:03

In the end, what could have been the most fraught discussion was over in less than two hours. Ursula von der Leyen’s name was proposed for a second term as European Commission president, and despite some protests from Italy she was voted through by a majority of the 27 EU leaders.

What was expected to be a two-day summit in Brussels was done and dusted before midnight on the first day. Amid talks on the Middle East, Ukraine and defence spending, the big issue was always going to be whether von der Leyen got the backing of member states for another five years.

After motoring through several other items on the agenda surprisingly quickly, the national leaders turned to the topic of who they would put forward for several key EU jobs at about 9pm on Thursday. von der Leyen was the pick to continue as commission president, as part of a deal where Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas would become the EU’s next foreign affairs chief, and former prime minister of Portugal António Costa would take over as president of the European Council.

All eyes had been on rightwing Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who was sidelined at a meeting of leaders last week that formally kicked off the talks on who would be the next commission president.

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The well-flagged package of Von der Leyen, Kallas andCosta was hammered out by a small group of leaders representing the main political groups. It was then presented as a done deal to the remainder of the 27, which infuriated Meloni, a standard bearer of hard-right populist parties in Europe.

When it came time to debate the deal this week, Meloni is said to have made a strong contribution expressing her anger, having felt humiliated the week before, according to several sources. The Italian hit out at the deal as a stitch-up that ignored the strong showing of hard-right parties in the recent European elections. There was an element of Meloni having to be seen to make a show of her dissatisfaction, but also a recognition from many that the choreography of the agreement could have been managed better. The majority of EU leaders then voted in favour of a second von der Leyen term, with Meloni abstaining and just Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban voting against the German woman.

The choice of Kallas as the next foreign affairs chief is a recognition of her being a strong voice in support of Ukraine, which is no surprise given the war is on the doorstep of Estonia. There were some queries about the choice of Costa as next president, running EU leaders’ summits. He had to resign as Portuguese prime minister last year as a corruption scandal engulfed his government, but to date he has not been personally implicated. Costa is personally very well liked by the other leaders and doubts about where the domestic scandal might end up were put aside.

Now von der Leyen’s attention will turn to the European Parliament, where she needs a majority of MEPs to back her in a vote on July 18th to confirm her second term.

Earlier in the evening the leaders agreed to a statement putting pressure on Israel to follow a ruling of the International Court of Justice directing it to halt its offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Speaking on Friday, Taoiseach Simon Harris said the EU would need to “step up” to support the Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the occupied West Bank. “There is going to be a need for real European leadership shortly on supporting the Palestinian Authority in a financial sense, in a practical sense. We already provide some assistance, there is going to be an urgent need to assist and support and help sustain the authority,” he said.

“The world is failing Gaza, I said this last night,” he added. “Nobody’s children or grandchildren are going to look back on Europe’s position on the Middle East and think it was a job well done.”

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