EU summit: Leaders to agree on top jobs after election – DW – 06/27/2024

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that he will hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before July 9.

“We agreed with President Zelenskyy to talk in Warsaw before the NATO summit,” Tusk said in a post published on the platform X, formerly Twitter, as he and Zelenskyy attended an EU summit in Brussels.

“The EU has understood what Poles have known from the start of this war: the defense of Ukraine is the defense of Europe,” Tusk said.

The July 9 NATO summit is scheduled to be held in Washington, DC.

Earlier on Thursday, Zelenskyy signed with leaders in Brussels a security agreement that committed EU member states to continue supporting Ukraine “regardless of any internal institutional changes.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized Ursula von der Leyen’s party, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), and its allies for what he described as a “shameful agreement” on dividing the EU’s top jobs. 

“European voters have been deceived. The EPP formed a coalition of lies with the left and the liberals. We do not support this shameful agreement!” Orban said on X, formerly Twitter.

The nationalist Hungarian leader’s remarks echoed earlier comments by Italy’s far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who also claimed the deal ignored the voters’ will. 

The EPP agreed with its main allies, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew, on a deal to propose candidates to helm the EU following the elections. The deal was endorsed by six leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz, acting as negotiators for their political families. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for financial support for EU countries that have hosted the most Ukrainian refugees. 

In remarks to the press upon arrival at the summit, Scholz noted that Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic are among those countries. 

“If other countries are less involved in taking in refugees,” he said, this must mean that the EU supports the host countries “especially financially.” Scholz said such financing was needed in areas such as living expenses or integration and language courses

He said he expected the topic to be discussed in the two-day summit. 

Scholz’s remarks come amid calls by German conservative politicians to limit help for Ukrainian refugees in Germany.

The leader of the Bavarian conservatives (CSU) in parliament, Alexander Dobrindt, had said that Ukrainian refugees in Germany should “start working or return to safe areas in west Ukraine.”

Last month, after years of debate, the EU formally approved new migration and asylum rules that include tougher borders and shared responsibility among the bloc’s members.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a security agreement with the EU that he had earlier hailed as an advancement of “peace and prosperity.”

The new security agreement, dubbed “Joint Security Commitments between the EU and Ukraine,” ensures the bloc’s support to Kyiv “regardless of any internal institutional changes,” Zelenskyy had earlier said.

After taking part in the signing ceremony, Zelenskyy is addressing EU leaders who are meeting in Brussels to agree on dividing the bloc’s top jobs after the latest European Parliament election. 

Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who is expected to be selected as the next EU foreign policy chief, and Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda also signed bilateral security agreements with Zelenskyy in Brussels.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who was part of the negotiating team that proposed the top jobs, said there had been a “misunderstanding” after his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, criticized the deal. 

Tusk said the deal was reached only “to facilitate the process” and for Meloni and other leaders to make the decision, adding: “no-one respects PM Meloni and Italy more than I do.”

“There is no Europe without Italy and there is no decision without Prime Minister Meloni,” he said. 

Meloni, whose political group in the European Parliament is now the third-largest, had said the deal naming the new top EU officials did not take into account the will of EU citizens “who are calling for a more concrete, less ideological Europe.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was in Brussels to attend the EU summit and “thank all European leaders for their unity and for affirming the irreversibility of our European course.”

Zelenskyy said he would sign three agreements, including one with the EU.

“For the first time, this agreement will enshrine the commitment of all 27 Member States to provide Ukraine with extensive support, regardless of any internal institutional changes,” he said.

Outgoing European Council President Charles Michel told reporters that the security agreement would “give the message we intend to support Ukraine as long as it takes.”

Zelenskyy did not provide details about the other two, but they are likely the outcome of bilateral talks on the sidelines with leaders of EU member states.

Ukraine has already signed several bilateral security agreements with allies including the US, France, Germany, Britain and Japan. Such agreements are not mutual defense pacts, but they rather outline the countries’ commitments to support Ukraine with military aid and other forms of assistance over a number of years.

Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states are set to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and economic competitiveness. They are also expected to adopt a strategic agenda for the next five years.

The EU’s support for Ukraine will also be discussed, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to sign a security agreement with the bloc. Attending the talks in Brussels, Zelenskyy is set to brief EU leaders on the situation on the front line in Ukraine.

After the June 2024 European Parliament election, the three main centrist groups in the legislature agreed on a deal backing Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president for another five-year term. 

Under the deal, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas would serve as the EU’s foreign policy chief, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed on Wednesday.

The groups also agreed to tap former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa for the position of the European Council president, who chairs meetings of the EU’s national leaders.  

Although the deal is likely to have support among most leaders, it could also face some opposition. 

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has already criticized the plan, saying that her group had less of a say in the appointments. 

“It does not seem to me that a willingness to take into account what the citizens have said at the ballot box has emerged so far,” she said on Wednesday.

Von der Leyen needs European Parliament majority backing to be confirmed in the post. European Parliament members must also approve Kallas for the foreign policy chief role, while the European Council president’s job does not require parliamentary approval.

fb/kb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)