EU summit nominates Ursula von der Leyen for second term of office
The European Council has nominated CDU politician Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as President of the EU Commission. In addition, the European Council decided that the former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa will be the next President of the European Council and the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will be the new EU Foreign Policy Chief. Several delegations in Brussels reported this on the sidelines of an EU summit.
Due to an agreement among the major European party families in the middle of the week, it was already almost certain before the summit that the top posts would go to von der Leyen, Costa, and Kallas from the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and Liberals, respectively.
The presidency of the EU Commission is considered the most important position to be filled after the European elections. The president or president-elect has approximately 32,000 employees under their command, who make proposals for new EU laws and oversee the enforcement of European treaties. In addition, the Commission president sits at almost all major international summit meetings, such as G7 or G20, as the EU representative.
The basis for the personnel package is the result of the European elections about three weeks ago. The Center-Right European People's Party (EPP), to which the CDU and CSU belong, achieved the best result with CDU politician Ursula von der Leyen as their lead candidate. She will now form an informal coalition with the second-placed party families of the Social Democrats (S&D) and the Liberals (Renew) in the parliament.
For the EPP, negotiations were led by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, for the Social Democrats by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and for the Liberals by French President Emmanuel Macron and the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Italian Prime Minister Angry About Process
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her displeasure with the process. She criticized that, despite the good results of her Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) party in the European elections, she was not involved in the discussions about the personnel package. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also voiced his opposition to the procedure.
However, their approval was not necessary, as no unanimity was required. At least 20 EU countries had to agree, representing a minimum of 65% of the EU population.
At the Thursday summit, several prime ministers tried to calm the waters and stated that it was not about excluding anyone. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for example, said: "There is no Europe without Italy, and there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni. That's clear to me."
Von der Leyen Needs Majority in Parliament
However, von der Leyen still needs a majority in the parliament for her confirmation as Commission President. The European Parliament is expected to vote on her nomination on July 16. If she fails to secure a majority, a second round of voting will take place on July 17, with a simple majority required for confirmation. If she still fails to secure a majority in the second round, the European Council will have to propose a new candidate.
To enable Ursula von der Leyen to begin a second term, she now needs to secure a parliamentary majority. The informal alliance of EVP, Social Democrats, and Liberals theoretically has a comfortable majority of approximately 400 out of 720 votes. However, it is believed that a certain number of deputies may deviate from their faction line and not give their vote to the Germans.
Therefore, von der Leyen is currently also actively seeking votes from deputies of other parties, particularly from the Greens. Representatives of the party have recently signaled openness for talks. The vote in the Strasbourg Parliament could already be scheduled according to statements by Parliament President Roberta Metsola in the third week of July.
The EU Council's decision to nominate Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as President of the EU Commission is a significant move in EU Politics, given her role as the CDU politician with a vast influence in shaping EU laws and representing the EU at international summits. Despite some criticisms from leaders like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, von der Leyen now needs to secure a majority in the European Parliament for her confirmation, which is expected to take place on July 16 or 17.
