EU leaders give the green light to the appointments of Von der Leyen, Costa and Kallas to the European leadership without Meloni

The Italian drama did not end in tragedy. Despite the misgivings and anger of the Prime Minister of Italy, the far-right Giorgia Meloni—who has been attacking a negotiation process for days in which she has not been taken into account because she belongs to the far-right family—the Twenty-seven This Thursday they gave the green light to the appointments to the EU leadership: the German conservative Ursula von der Leyen, to repeat at the head of the European Commission, the former Portuguese socialist prime minister, António Costa, for the European Council, and Estonian liberal Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as head of European diplomacy. They have done so without the support of Meloni, who has abstained from the appointment of Von der Leyen and has voted against Kallas and Costa. The Hungarian Prime Minister, the national-populist Viktor Orbán, has voted against the German and Estonian. The shortlist that the negotiators of the three main European political families had already put together on Tuesday – popular, social democrats and liberals – has thus received the support of a sufficient majority at a meeting in Brussels, according to diplomatic sources.

With his votes against Kallas and Costa, Meloni has rebelled against the negotiation process that has left out his ultra-European family, the Reformists and Conservatives (ECR), say Italian Government sources. On the other hand, he has abstained with the German conservative “waiting to know the programmatic lines and the open negotiations on the role of Italy [en la próxima Comisión Europea]”say the same sources. Von der Leyen and Kallas, who will succeed Josep Borrell as high representative for Foreign Policy and Security, will now have to overcome confirmation by the European Parliament, something that, in the case of the German – who is voted for her appointment individual—is not guaranteed.

“I will take on the responsibility of being the next President of the European Council with a strong sense of duty,” Costa tweeted. In recent weeks, he had faced opposition from conservatives over a court case involving his entourage that led to his resignation and which, although it has fizzled out, remains open. “We must continue to work together to ensure that Europe is an effective global partner in keeping our citizens free, safe and prosperous,” Kallas said in a statement posted on social media. Kallas was perceived by some as being too belligerent towards Russia.

Von der Leyen, who presents herself as the beacon of stability in a very volatile global moment, will accelerate a diplomatic offensive starting this Friday to get the maximum number of MEPs to support her, foreseeably in the next plenary session, in July. She needs a majority of 361 out of 720. And the sum of the popular, social democrats and liberals, the alliance that has supported her, and has supported the EU in recent years, has 399. It is very tight if you take into account that she will lose votes , even his own.

In 2019, when it came out as covered for a position for which it was never on the table, passed the European Parliament’s screening by nine votes in a secret voting process. And now, with the rise of the extreme right after the European elections of 9-J and in a much more polarized European Parliament, the situation is different. What happens in France in the legislative elections may also influence, in which the polls show a significant rise for the extreme right of Marine Le Pen, who could even govern in one of the two engines of the Union. In the other, Germany, the government coalition of social democrat Olaf Scholz – whose party received the worst result in history – has also been affected: the Alternative for Germany (AfD) ultras were the second force in the European elections.

Hence, Meloni’s drama has been a small headache for the German conservative, who has recently debated whether to approach the Italian, whom she considers acceptable far-right – unlike the French Le Pen or Alternative for Germany—, or bet on a moderate alliance and add the Greens. To stop making noise, Meloni has asked Von der Leyen for an executive vice presidency of the Commission with an important economic portfolio. Meanwhile, social democrats and liberals have demanded that the German woman draw up a cordon sanitaire and not ally herself with the extreme right of any kind.

The dilemma of the last few days has been whether to try to seduce Meloni into supporting the appointments – which did not require unanimity but a reinforced qualified majority, that is, 20 countries representing at least 65% of the population – and thus count on Italy, one of the founding countries of the Union, or turn a deaf ear to his criticism and threats of blackmail. Diplomatic sources close to the Popular Party had warned on Wednesday that the agreed shortlist already had the necessary support.

However, on Thursday the tone of the leaders who had criticised the Italian’s tantrum has changed. “Nobody respects Meloni and Italy more than me,” said Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister and negotiator for the Popular Party, together with the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Less explicit, but also conciliatory, was the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz: “We have reached a political agreement on this between these three families of parties. This is only one position. We will discuss it carefully and fairly. The 27 Member States are equally important; that is important.”

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has caused much fewer problems, despite being part of the same European political family as Meloni. “For the Czech Republic it is crucial that the distribution respects not only the political but also the geographical balance. The names proposed so far meet these criteria. Furthermore, I know them all personally, they have a positive relationship with the Czech Republic and I have very good experience working with them,” he noted on the social network this European Council.

_