The European Council gave the green light to the renewal of Ursula von der Leyen's term at the helm of the European Commission for another five years at a marathon summit that ended shortly after midnight.
European leaders managed to agree on all items on the agenda, including who will lead the EU and the "Strategic Agenda" for the five-year period 2024-2029.
European leaders will not meet tomorrow as originally planned.
As decided after the marathon Summit, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa of the Social Democrats will be the next President of the European Council for a renewable 2,5-year term and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas of the Liberals will she is the next High Representative of the EU for foreign and security policy for a five-year term.
The proposed persons, from the three main political families (EPP, Socialists, Liberals), were approved by a qualified majority (including at least 21 countries representing 65% of the European population).
What did Meloni and Orban vote for?
According to diplomatic sources, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni voted against the candidacies of Kaya Callas and Antonio Costa, while she chose to abstain from voting on the candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen. During a second term of Ursula von der Leyen in the Presidency of the Commission, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, voted, while abstention was his choice in the vote for the candidacy of Kaya Kalas.
After its approval by the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen's candidacy will have to go through a vote in the European Parliament, which will probably take place on July 18, at the first Plenary Session of the new European Parliament, in Strasbourg. For its approval, an absolute majority is needed, i.e. at least 361 votes from the total of 720 MEPs.
Mitsotakis: Good evening for Europe
The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, spoke of a "good evening for Europe", after the agreement of the EU leaders on the persons who will fill the top positions.
Mr. Mitsotakis congratulated Costa, Kalas and von der Leyen on their election, through a post on "X".
"We have many challenges ahead of us and we must face them together," the Greek prime minister added in his post.
EU: Ursula von der Leyen, Kaya Callas and Antonio Costa expressed satisfaction at the approval of their candidacies
"Mission accomplished", "we did it", said the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, as he welcomed the agreement reached in the European Council on the three leaders of the EU and the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 .
S. Michel announced that the European Council decided that the former Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, will succeed him in the presidency of the European Council, while Ursula der Leyen was given the green light to assume for another five years the Presidency of the Commission and to the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaya Kalas, to take the position of High Representative.
Taking the floor, Ursula von der Leyen expressed her gratitude to European leaders for endorsing her candidacy for a 2nd term. "I am happy to share this moment with my friends Antonio Costa and Kaya Callas," said the President of the Commission. She stressed that the next step is to seek confirmation from the European Parliament, after presenting her political guidelines.
Asked to comment on the abstention of the Italian prime minister during the vote on her candidacy, Ursula von der Leyen replied: "It is important to cooperate in the European Council with Italy, as with all other countries. This is the principle I always follow."
"I am truly honored to be appointed EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Your trust means a lot," said Kaya Kalas for her part. "I am very happy to work together with Ursula and Antonio Costa. We will make a very good team to achieve the EU's goals." He added that the next step will be its hearing and support from the European Parliament.
Antonio Costa, who spoke via video conference during the press conference, also expressed his satisfaction to work with Ursula von der Leyen and Kaya Kalas. "Building unity among member states will be my priority when I take office in December," he said.
Mitsotakis' reaction to the Franco-German proposal in the text of the Strategic Agenda
The reaction of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was caused by the Franco-German proposal of significant amendments at the last minute to the text of the Strategic Agenda which had been extensively discussed at the level of Permanent Representatives in Brussels.
The prime minister, according to information, reacted strongly by raising the issue of principle and institutional procedure, recalling that the text had been discussed at length in the Committee of Permanent Representatives and asked that it remain as it is.
Mrs. Meloni immediately supported this proposal and requested that the text remain as it is.
The intervention in favor of keeping the text without significant amendments was supported by the majority of partners, including Cyprus, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Belgium.
Source: iefimerida.gr