The heads of state and government of the European Union elected their top officials for the next five years in Brussels: Ursula von der Leyen scored a second term as EU commission president, while Spain’s Social Democrat António Costa was elected president of the European Council, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will now be Europe’s top diplomat.
The news was announced by outgoing Council President Charles Michel on his social media page.
The main opponents for a second term for Ursula von der Leyen were Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. At Thursday’s vote, which ended with the required qualified majority for all three, Meloni abstained from the vote on von der Leyen and voted against Kallas.
Orbán voted against von der Leyen and abstained from the vote on Kallas.
Orbán told media in Brussels that the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and the Liberals have formed a coalition to appoint the next leaders of the European Union institutions, which he calls “a coalition of parties of lies and deceit.”
“The agreement was reached on a party basis, not on programs, not on past performance, not on future plans. It was explicitly a power-sharing arrangement,” he stressed.
The agreement between the EPP, the Socialists and the Liberals “must be considered a disgrace,” he said.
The EPP had captured a share of the right-wing vote and then handed it over to the left, thus deceiving European voters, the Hungarian leader said. He noted that it was a betrayal of the European electorate, most of whom voted right-wing and wanted to see a right-wing European leadership.
“There is no reason for us to support this abuse of power,” he said.
The three leaders will have to be confirmed by the new European Parliament, which will first convene in the second half of July.
