However, the new leaders were not elected unanimously at the European Council meeting. The Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, expressed their opposition to the summit. It was Meloni vs. Costa, and it was Orbán vs. Von der Leyen.
The Italian, in turn, abstained from voting in the von der Leyen case.
The President of the European Commission is elected by the heads of state and government of the European Council. Under the treaty, a candidate must win by a qualified majority, which in practice means the support of at least 15 member states. The new president must be approved by the European Parliament.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented on the decision regarding the X platform.
Ursula von der Leyen is the former head of the German Ministry of Defense and a supporter of former Chancellor Angela Merkel. She is the initiator and advocate of the EU’s plan to achieve climate neutrality as part of the European Green Deal and deepen EU cooperation in the fight against climate change. defense.
Almost 5 years ago, during the summit in Brussels, the leaders of the European Union countries jointly put forward her candidacy for the post of President of the European Commission, and two weeks later the European Parliament elected her to this position. She became the first German actress to hold this position in more than 50 years.
“I will take on the responsibility of the next President of the European Council with a strong sense of mission,” he wrote on his X-Costa account. The Portuguese thanked the Council members for their trust and congratulated the nominations of von der Leyen and Kallas.
At the conference that followed the meeting, Kaja Kallas said that her nomination was “an honor for Estonia, a small country that has been a member of the European Union for 20 years.” The Estonian Prime Minister wrote on X that she felt proud of the nomination and thanked her for her confidence. He added: “We must continue to work together to ensure that Europe is an effective global partner and to ensure freedom, security and prosperity for our citizens.”
The EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday started at 4pm and ended just before midnight. Although the discussion on filling key positions in the EU was the main topic of the meeting, it was only discussed at the end, including: after discussing the situation in the Middle East and the European Council’s priorities for the next five years. According to European Union sources, the summit agenda was planned in this way after pressure from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who wanted to talk about priorities first and then about names.
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