Von der Leyen, Costa and Kallas bag EU top jobs

EU leaders have chosen Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president, six EU diplomats told POLITICO.

At a meeting in Brussels, the national leaders also picked Portugal’s António Costa and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas for the most senior positions at the European Council and the EU’s foreign policy service, respectively.

The decision to name three experienced politicians into top EU roles was a seemingly safe bet by leaders to maintain the power of its centrist coalition amid a stronger hard-right showing in France, Germany and other parts of the EU in the European election.

The announcement from leaders comes as the European Union is flanked by relative uncertainty on either side: With a looming election in the U.K. that will most likely see a change in political leadership for the first time in 14 years and as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues into a third year.

And in the heart of the bloc, French President Emmanuel Macron unexpectedly announced a snap election after the far right thrashed his party in June’s European election.

At a press conference after the leaders’ meeting, Kallas, who is the current prime minister of Estonia, said of the trio: “We make a great team.”

At a press conference after the leaders’ meeting, Kaja Kallas, who is the current prime minister of Estonia, said of the trio: “We make a great team.” | John Thys/AFP via Getty Images

Via live-feed from Lisbon, former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa briefly appeared to say he was “delighted” to be part of the “team” with von der Leyen and Kallas.

On Tuesday, six negotiators from the three main European centrist political groups approved von der Leyen, Costa and Kallas for the roles. On Thursday, the other leaders supported those decisions.

Earlier in the week, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made clear to her counterparts that she was angry about being left out of negotiations for the top posts, given her political grouping in the European Parliament is now the third-largest after June’s European election. On Thursday night she abstained from supporting a second term for von der Leyen and voted against Costa and Kallas.

She later tweeted about her lack of support for the three proposed for the top roles: “I decided not to support it out of respect for the citizens and the indications that came from those citizens during the elections. We continue to work to finally give Italy the weight it deserves in Europe.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán voted against a second term for Ursula von der Leyen, abstained on the vote for Kaja Kallas as EU foreign policy chief and voted in favor of António Costa as Council president, an EU diplomat said.

Von der Leyen now faces a knife-edge vote in the European Parliament, which even her own party allies admit will be more of a challenge to pull off. The vote could come as soon as July 18.

This story has been updated.