A night of negotiations in Brussels drags on into the morning
NOT EVEN at the peak of the Greek debt crisis did European Union summits run on as long as the one that began in Brussels last night. Leaders gathered on June 30th to thrash out a deal on the EU’s big jobs: the presidents of the European Commission , the European Council , the European Parliament and the High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
The blockage concerns a provisional package of appointments sketched out by the leaders of France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands on the fringes of the G20 summit in Osaka.
The objections began at the EPP’s pre-summit meeting yesterday afternoon, when leaders made known their objections to Mrs Merkel’s plan. The German chancellor left early for one-on-one consultations. All of which delayed the start of the summit's official dinner last night. Then, around 10pm, Donald Tusk, the outgoing council president, suspended the group discussion to hold a series of bilateral meetings before the leaders reconvened for breakfast at 7am.
Various packages were floated through the night. One option would see a compromise EPP figure like Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, clinch the commission presidency. But that would break the doctrine whereby a Spitzenkandidat or “lead candidate” of a major parliamentary group during the European election campaign takes that job. Mr Weber and Mr Timmermans were both lead candidates; Mr Barnier was not.
That the allocation of posts is proving so fraught says something about the state of Europe. There was always intense horse-trading over the big jobs, but in the past it was often squared by grand bargains between France and Germany and between Christian and Social Democrats. Today’s EU is a more multi-dimensional one. The parliament and the European Council are more politically fragmented. France and Germany are at odds and in any case less powerful collectively.
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