EU Leaders Split over Bid for Top Jobs

EU leaders meeting in Brussels are divided over who should get the EU’s top jobs, including a successor to Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

Centre-right leaders from the EU’s biggest political group played down the chances of agreement on Sunday on a new Commission president.

They oppose a plan to give the post to Dutch centre-left politician Frans Timmermans, a deputy to Juncker.

Soon after the working dinner began the talks were suspended.

Summit chair Donald Tusk decided to have a break for bilateral talks, and his spokesman said the summit would resume later.

Tusk was reported to be proposing Timmermans for the top job, as part of a balanced package. But there is intense national rivalry.

Politicians in Poland, Hungary and Romania dislike the way Timmermans, a veteran of Brussels politics, has enforced the EU rule of law policy.

The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) nominated Germany’s Manfred Weber for the top job.

He is the candidate under the “Spitzenkandidat” (lead candidate) procedure, which the European Parliament supports as a democratic way to reflect the European election outcome.

But while the EPP got the most votes in the May elections, it does not have a majority, and French President Emmanuel Macron is among those opposing the “Spitzenkandidat” system.

The elections saw big gains for the liberals - including Macron’s alliance - and Greens, so the long-established centre-right and centre-left blocs can no longer dominate EU business. Nationalists also made gains.

The Commission drafts EU laws, oversees national budgets, enforces EU treaties and negotiates international trade deals. The rare Sunday summit was called because EU leaders failed on 20 June to agree on candidates for the Commission president’s job and other top posts: European Council president (to replace Donald Tusk); high representative for foreign policy (to replace Federica Mogherini); European Parliament president and European Central Bank president.

If necessary the talks will continue at breakfast on Monday, Mr Tusk says.

“The vast majority of EPP prime ministers don’t believe that we should give up the presidency quite so easily, without a fight,” said Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar.