Item 1 of 17 European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, and former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa during a meeting at Brussels Airport, a day after the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, 28 June 2024. EU leaders agreed on proposing Ursula Von der Leyen as a candidate for President of the European Commission and Kaja Kallas as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, while Antonio Costa was elected as European Council President during a summit to discuss the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, the next institutional cycle, Ukraine, the Middle East, competitiveness, security, and defense, among other topics. OLIVIER HOSLET/Pool via REUTERS
BRUSSELS, June 27 (Reuters) – European Union leaders agreed to nominate Ursula von der Leyen of Germany for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive body.
“Mission accomplished! The European Council has delivered,” the body’s current chair, Charles Michel, told reporters early on Friday morning.
The trio won broad backing but right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained from the vote on von der Leyen and voted against Costa and Kallas, according to diplomats.
Meloni said on X that she decided not to support the leadership slate “out of respect for the citizens and the indications that came from those citizens during the elections”.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another right-winger, voted against von der Leyen and did not vote for Kallas, diplomats said.
Von der Leyen’s nomination still needs approval from the European Parliament in a secret ballot – widely seen as a trickier proposition than her endorsement by EU leaders.
“It is a matter of convincing – if possible – a broad majority for a strong Europe,” von der Leyen said. “This is what I’m going to be working for.”
The leadership package is balanced politically as well as geographically. Von der Leyen hails from the centre-right, Costa from the centre-left and Kallas from Europe’s liberal group.
“This is an enormous responsibility in this time of geopolitical tensions. There’s war in Europe, but there’s also growing instability globally,” Kallas told reporters.
DEFENCE DEBATE
The agreement lays out the EU’s commitments to help Ukraine in nine areas of security policy – including arms deliveries, military training, defence industry cooperation and demining.
“These commitments will help Ukraine defend itself, resist destabilisation, and deter future acts of aggression – more concrete proof of the EU’s unshakeable resolve to support Ukraine for the long haul,” Michel said.
The leaders reiterated their pledge to support Ukraine as long as it takes, stressing that “Russia must not prevail” and that Ukraine must get back the land annexed by Moscow.
DEFENCE DEBATE
Diplomats said von der Leyen told the summit that between 1999 and 2021, the EU increased defence spending by 20%, China by 600% and Russia by 300%, even before Moscow’s massive rise in military spending after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
According to diplomats, von der Leyen told leaders the EU needed to invest 500 billion euros ($535.30 billion) in defence over the next 10 years. Financing options ranged from national contributions, dedicated revenue streams – called the EU’s own resources – and joint borrowing, von der Leyen said.
But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz poured cold water on any plans of joint EU financing for defence. “”Do I want to accept sovereign bonds, Eurobonds being used to finance armaments? No,” he told reporters after the meeting.
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Reporting by Jan Strupczewski
Additional reporting by Andrew Gray, Philip Blenkinsop, Charlotte Van Campenhout, John Irish, and Michel Rose;
Editing by Deepa Babington, Ros Russell and Susan Fenton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.