After the EU elections, the fight has been going on about who should be assigned the heaviest tasks in the parliament. As expected, the German Ursula von der Leyen receives continued confidence as president of the European Commission for another five years.
“Ursula has what it takes: decisive, respected and with a strong moral compass,” writes Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) on X about von der Leyen.
Upset feelings
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa becomes the new Council President and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas takes over from Josep Borrell as the EU’s foreign affairs chief.
The appointments have led to upset feelings within the nationally conservative and EU-sceptic ECR group, which includes the Sweden Democrats.
For SD, the election was a setback, but out in Europe, the right-wing nationalist parties made strong progress with Italy’s brothers in the lead. The ECR group looks set to eventually overtake the liberal RE as the third largest group in parliament.
Meloni strongly critical
Despite that, the three top posts go to a Christian Democrat, a Social Democrat and a Liberal. Together, the party groups form a qualified majority in parliament, which is required when the decisions about the posts are to be hammered out.
During negotiations on possible candidates for the top jobs, Italy’s right-wing nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was excluded. In recent days, she has not held back her criticism and accused her colleagues in the EU of ignoring the election results.