"Enormous responsibility"

Top EU jobs for von der Leyen, Costa & Kallas fixed

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Portugal's former Prime Minister António Costa

(Bild: APA/AFP)

The EU heads of state and government have nominated Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as EU Commission President. The Portuguese social democrat and former prime minister António Costa has been designated as the future President of the Council, and the liberal Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the next EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. This was announced by EU Council President Charles Michel at a press conference on Friday night after the EU summit.

Kallas was honored by her appointment, "this is an enormous responsibility in this moment of geopolitical tensions. The war in Europe, increasing instability in our neighborhood and worldwide are the main challenges for European foreign policy." 

In this contribution, Kallas expresses his honor at the nomination and declares "Your trust means a lot.":

Costa wants to approach the task as Council President with a "strong sense of mission", as he wrote on X. "As President of the European Council from December 1st, I will be fully committed to promoting the unity of all 27 Member States and focus on the implementation of the strategic agenda."

Antonio Costa

(Bild: AP)

Nehammer: "Vacuum prevented"
Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) welcomed the decision. "It is important that we have prevented a vacuum, that we have made important personnel decisions together," said Nehammer after the consultations on Friday night. In terms of content, the Chancellor expects more pragmatism and more subsidiarity from the new EU Commission, as he said. The result of the EU elections must be taken into account.

Hungary refused to give its consent
Negotiating teams from the European Conservatives (EPP), Social Democrats (PES) and Liberals (Renew) had already agreed on the personnel package at the beginning of the week. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had already announced before the summit that he would not agree.

Meloni: Proposal for EU top jobs "wrong in content"
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained from the vote on von der Leyen and voted against Costa and Kallas, as reported by the Reuters news agency with reference to diplomats. "It's not about Ursula von Leyen, but about what policy she wants to pursue," Meloni explained. According to the right-wing politician, the proposal for the new appointments to top positions in the EU was "wrong in terms of procedure and content".

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE)

At the summit, a majority of 20 EU countries representing 65% of the European population was sufficient. However, the necessary absolute majority of 361 of the 720 MEPs in the European Parliament is less certain for 65-year-old von der Leyen.

Focus on defense and economy in the coming years
According to the will of its heads of state and government, the European Union should focus more on defense and the economy in the coming years. "Together, we will invest significantly more and better", states the so-called Strategic Agenda, which was adopted at the EU summit on Thursday. This should make Europe less dependent on military matters and significantly strengthen its defense industry.

According to the agenda, European armies should be better coordinated in future. The EU states currently use numerous different models of armored vehicles, weapons and other equipment. Standardization could save costs and effort in many areas.

EU plans to expand sensitive sectors and key technologies
With regard to the economy, there is a particular fear of being left behind. The coronavirus pandemic and Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, for example, have made it painfully clear how dependent the EU is on functioning supply chains and cheap energy. Many of the raw materials required for electric cars or wind turbines, for example, have to be imported almost entirely from individual third countries. Sensitive sectors and key technologies such as space travel, artificial intelligence, microchips and pharmaceuticals are therefore to be expanded.