Outgoing Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel was mentioned on Thursday in European circles as a potential successor to Poland’s Donald Tusk at the helm of the European Council.
Tusk himself has reportedly mentioned the name of the Belgian liberal leader to heads of State and Government on the Council to know their feelings in that regard, according to the Politico news site,
Nominations for top European posts are on the agenda of the European leaders at a Thursday afternoon summit. The posts include the presidency of the European Commission and European Council, the management of the European Central Bank and the post of High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs.
The Liberal family, to which Charles Michel belongs, has been focusing above all on Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager. She has a good chance of being elected to the presidency of the Commission, Liberal representatives say.
The possibility of the European leaders reaching an agreement on the nominations by Thursday night seemed slim, but not impossible.
On Thursday morning, six Prime Ministers had an informal exchange of ideas on the nominations and the strategic European agenda.
Charles Michel and Mark Rutte (Netherlands) represented the Liberals, Croatia’s Andrej Plenkovic spoke for the Conservatives, while the Social Democrats were represented by Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and Antonio Costa of Portugal.
No information on the content of the discussions was made public after the meeting.
The Brussels Times
