European Union leaders are still locked in after an all-night negotiation over the bloc’s top jobs. More here:
BRUSSELS - European Union leaders are close to picking Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to head the European Commission, two diplomats said on Monday, as the bloc’s political families dragged out horse-trading between them to an unbroken 19 hours.
Manfred Weber, who the EPP had wanted to lead the executive Commission but who faced strong resistance from France and Spain, looked set to head the European Parliament, the diplomats said, though perhaps for just half of the usual five-year term. Leaders had hoped to swiftly agree on a replacement as EU chief executive for Jean-Claude Juncker that would then allow a deal on who should take over from Mario Draghi as European Central Bank president. Both men are due to step down on Oct. 31, but the latter decision will almost certainly be postponed.The summit marked a third attempt to fill the EU’s five top posts for at least the next five years, forging policy for the world’s biggest free-trade area and more than 500 million people.
A journalist sleeps while waiting for the end of a European Union leaders summit that aims to select candidates for top EU institution jobs, in Brussels, Belgium July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Yves HermanThe EPP rebellion also underlined how weakened Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democrat party belongs to the group, has become as she prepares to hand over to her successor in Germany.
But Merkel, Macron and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said they too were not giving up without a fight.
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