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EU leaders have endorsed a second five-year time period for Ursula von der Leyen as European Fee president, though she didn’t win the backing of Italy, the bloc’s third largest member state.
A majority of leaders at a Brussels summit on Thursday evening agreed to von der Leyen remaining in put up, alongside selecting former Portuguese prime minister António Costa as the following EU Council president, who chairs conferences of the 27 heads of presidency, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas because the bloc’s subsequent chief diplomat.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained, quite than supporting von der Leyen. Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán voted towards.
Meloni’s stance got here after she voiced her discontent that the three key appointments had been proposed in a non-public gathering of six EU leaders final week that excluded her and her hard-right political grouping, which carried out strongly on this month’s European parliament elections.
Meloni stated the appointment course of was “fallacious in technique and substance”.
“I made a decision to not assist it out of respect for the residents and the indications that got here from them within the elections,” she added. “We proceed to work to lastly give Italy the burden it deserves in Europe.”
Supported by Europe’s largest centrist events, von der Leyen had been anticipated to stay fee president, as EU capitals most well-liked continuity over change given the turmoil buffeting the continent because of the warfare in Ukraine, tensions with China and political uncertainty in a few of the bloc’s key member states.
“Kaja, Ursula and Antonio accepted,” stated Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister. “Satisfaction. For Poland and for Europe.”
Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, stated the settlement on the EU appointments was “an vital sign. With them we are able to make good and fast progress.”
Von der Leyen should now win a majority within the European parliament to safe her second time period as head of the fee. A vote is scheduled to happen within the week of July 15.
A coalition of von der Leyen’s centre-right European Individuals’s get together, the Socialists and Democrats, and the liberal Renew Group have about 410 seats within the 720-strong chamber.
However due to potential defections within the secret poll of MEPs, she may additionally want some votes from Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists group, which got here third within the European parliament elections.
The Greens are additionally a doable supply of assist for von der Leyen, however are prone to demand robust commitments on the EU’s formidable local weather plans.
