The three major political families agree on the distribution of senior EU officials in a negotiation without the ultras

Without Giorgia Meloni or representatives of the European far-right family. The negotiators of the popular, liberal and social democrats agreed this Tuesday on the distribution of senior EU positions. The shortlist, which will have to be approved by a majority by the European Council (that is, the heads of State and Government of the Twenty-seven) remains as expected: the German conservative, Ursula von der Leyen, to repeat as head of the European Commission; former Portuguese socialist prime minister António Costa, to head the European Council; and the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, a liberal, as high representative for Foreign Policy and Security. The European People’s Party has given up its ambition to occupy the Council for half a term, removing Costa’s usual ability to re-elect after two and a half years in office.

The negotiators have been the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, for the Social Democrats; the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Polish Donald Tusk for the popular ones; and the French Emmanuel Macron and the Dutch Mark Rutte, for the liberals. The agreement comes after a videoconference meeting and after days of talks, after Monday’s meeting failed to reach a political support agreement after the European People’s Party demanded half of the Council’s mandate and after complaints of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and other leaders, who felt ignored in the conversations.

The European political family of the Italian Meloni, the European Reformists and Conservatives (ECR), which has become the third largest in the European Parliament after the collapse of the Liberals, wanted to be part of the negotiations in some way. During last Monday’s summit she criticized an agreement that she described as “pre-baked.” Meloni claims an executive vice-presidency for the Commission and is now focusing on bilateral negotiations with Von der Leyen.

Appointments to senior officials can be approved by a majority in the European Council. But the litmus test for Von der Leyen will be in Parliament in July, where the German needs 361 votes out of 720. Her traditional coalition, together with liberals and socialists, totals 399, very fair. Now, she must decide whether she turns even further to the right and allies with Meloni to have the votes of the ultras or allies with the Greens.

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