EU leaders gather in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit to name top officials and sign a security agreement with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
European citizens went to the polls on 6-9 June to decide on the composition of the European Parliament. Now, it’s the turn of their leaders to decide who will head the major Brussels institutions for the next five years and what policies they’ll follow.
This week’s EU summit agenda includes military support for Ukraine, the vision for the next five-year mandate, the Middle East, migration, defence and security, and the EU’s own top jobs.
After taking the post-election temperature at an informal gathering last week, Europe’s 27 leaders are now expected to agree on a pre-cooked package of names to lead the European Commission, the European Council and the bloc’s foreign policy.
The likely candidates are Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen for the EU executive, Portugal’s António Costa as president of the European Council and Kaja Kallas as foreign affairs chief.
After trying and failing last week, six negotiators – Poland’s Donald Tusk, Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Spain’s Pedro Sánchez, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Netherlands’ Mark Rutte – held a phone call earlier this week to reaffirm their slate of candidates.
Will EU leaders endorse the decision of the six? How will Italy and Hungary react to being cut out of the loop? And will the EU succeed in unblocking military aid to Ukraine? Follow our live blog to ensure you don’t miss a trick.