A socialist (and a woman?) for next EU foreign policy chief
EU leaders appear to have established that the next High Representative for EU foreign policy will be a centre-left politician. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi all said it in the respective post-summit statements.
Renzi, who is pushing for Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to get the job, also stressed that, "Everyone agrees that there's no other candidacy than Italy's." Hollande added that the High Representative "will necessarily be a woman, taking into account the image of Europe we have to offer". The French President also made clear that he backs Mogherini's candidacy.
The next European Council President will be appointed by unanimity, and could be one of the 28 sitting EU leaders
As Hollande put it during his press conference, the next European Council President "will be a personality that will have to gather consensus". Similarly, Merkel said, "We need a personality...who can hold us 28 together."
Interestingly, Renzi told Italian journalists:
"Hollande said that, according to him, the next European Council President has to be one of the 28 [sitting EU leaders]. It doesn't matter whether [he/she is] from the eurozone or not. He got broad support [for this idea]."Speaking after the summit, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed that his name has been informally floated for the post of European Council President (an option we discussed here and here), but that he had not been approached officially.
Tusk reiterated that he would prefer to remain in Poland, but then added:
"We have to play out a complicated game and sometimes in this game the argument goes that all options remain on the table. Therefore, if you ask me if this is impossible, I will say that in the negotiations I prefer to keep every eventuality in reserve in order to achieve the maximum that Poland could possibly achieve."And that was it. EU leaders will meet again on 30 August to try and wrap up a deal. We will be monitoring the meeting very closely, despite it being on a Saturday.
Can some media call this process and criteria euroclowns come up with total nonsense or does that job always befall us in the comments section?
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone watching the events in the EU and MananaZone over the last few years have any CONFIDENCE that they either know what they are doing or can come to an agreement on anything?!
ReplyDeleteThe EU has become a laughing stock. Ineffectual, out of touch, undemocratic and unaccountable.
Please note UK politicians that we hold you responsible for it all and look forward to holding you to account for the monumental cock-up that is where we are now.
And BTW, I will never ever accept being ruled by a third party, especially if that party is foreign and does not have our interests to heart.
Referendum or not, I do not now accept the EU having anything to do with my life, or importantly, the lives of our children.
Bog off.
SC
Am I the only one to have as much enthusiasm for this debate as would a condemned man waiting to find out who will have the honour of hanging him?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Reinfelt has a good chance of getting the Council President position.
ReplyDeleteThough he might do what the commissioners did and ask for vacation for campaigning until after the elections. The Swedish elections are in September and he might need another job after them.
Life expectancy is said to be 78.7 years.
ReplyDeleteWithin the next 30 years - maybe that is not the right way to say it.
In 30 years time most, if not all of the EU Elite will be 6 foot under & a new mindset will begin.
It is called having one foot in the grave & one foot on a banana skin.
So, make hay while the sun shine people!