Uncertainty over foreign-policy chief delays start of EU summit
EU leaders are supposed to strike agreements on three senior appointments tonight amid growing opposition against Federica Mogherini as the next foreign-policy chief.
The leaders of the 28 member states of the European Union will meet in Brussels later today (16 July) to appoint a successor to the UK’s Catherine Ashton as the EU’s foreign-policy chief.
The frontrunner is Federica Mogherini, Italy’s centre-left foreign minister, although opposition to her appointment has gathered strength in the past few days.
The uncertainty has forced Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, to postpone the start of the summit by two hours, to 8pm, to make time for additional bilateral consultations.
“There is no agreement on names yet,” said a diplomat involved in the preparations. Van Rompuy “continues to work the phones pretty hard”, the diplomat said.
Various names for alternatives to Mogherini have been floated in a frenzy of briefings and counter-briefings by member states’ diplomats over the past few days. Mogherini is controversial, especially with some of the EU’s newer member states, because of her conciliatory approach to Russia.
But there is no obvious candidate who would meet the various demands of nationality, political outlook and gender. Matteo Renzi, Italy’s prime minister, has emerged as a leader of Europe’s centre-left following a landslide victory for his Partito Democratico in elections to the European Parliament in May. Renzi has made it clear that he wants a woman as Ashton’s successor, and he has a strong claim on getting a top job for an Italian candidate.
Kristalina Georgieva, the current European commissioner for humanitarian aid, has been floated as a compromise candidate. But as a centre-right Bulgarian, she is unlikely to be supported by Bulgaria’s centre-left government, which seems to be inclined to nominate Kristian Vigenin, the foreign minister, as its candidate for European commissioner.
There is no sense among the EU leaders that Bulgaria needs to be rewarded or appeased – unlike Italy.
The current expectation is that Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s centre-left prime minister, will be appointed president of the European Council. But that plan could be disrupted if there is a quarrel over the foreign-policy chief.
The leaders are expected to appoint the next high representative for foreign affairs and security policy together with successors to Van Rompuy, a Belgian conservative, and Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch centre-left finance minister who chairs meetings of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.
“All the leaders want a full package [of appointments] tonight,” the diplomat said. There had been speculation that given the difficulty of balancing the various demands, the European Council tonight might appoint the foreign-policy chief only. This appointment is required for Jean-Claude Juncker to form the next European Commission.
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Juncker himself was confirmed by the European Parliament yesterday (15 July) and will attend tonight’s summit because he has a say in the appointment of the high representative, who also serves as a vice-president of the European Commission.
Following the traditional exchange of views with Martin Schulz, the president of the Parliament, at 8pm, the leaders will also discuss the situation in Ukraine and hold a discussion with Juncker over his policy programme. They will then proceed to negotiating the appointments. A diplomat predicted that the negotiations would be “difficult”.