Politico: Michel promotes candidacy of Greek PM to block von der Leyenʼs re-election as EC president

The President of the European Council Charles Michel undertook to promote the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to the position of the head of the European Commission in order to prevent Ursula von der Leyen from being re-elected for a second term. Mitsotakis himself says that he has no doubts about the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen and supports her.

Politico writes about this with reference to five European officials and diplomats.

They assure that Michel has "a whole box of banana peels that he puts on Ursula so that she slips. However, this box is already empty."

"At best itʼs inconvenient, at worst itʼs destabilizing," said one EU official.

Also, Charles Michel allegedly began to promote the appointment of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, rather than former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who is called a very likely candidate.

One of the interlocutors in Michelʼs defense noted that it was a normal practice for him to test moods by suggesting different names. However, most of the sources interviewed by the journalists say that Michelʼs attempts to "salt" von der Leyen and disrupt her re-election have already "undermined his trust".

Charles Michelʼs spokeswoman called the rumors in the media untrue. "The president consulted with all leaders individually regarding appointments to top positions. At this stage, he did not name specific names," she said.

Michel is responsible for the political agreement between European leaders on the appointment of the heads of the European Commission, the European Council, the European Parliament and the EUʼs foreign policy department.

"There is no role for Michel in this process other than to preside," said one EU diplomat.

A few days after the European Parliament elections, a consensus emerged among the 27 heads of state and government that von der Leyen should get a second term and that Costa should become the new president of the European Council (Michelʼs current position). The good personal relationship between the two helped to reach a consensus on their candidacies, especially after years of infighting between Michel and von der Leyen.

Despite this, Michel continues to put forward alternatives to von der Leyen in his preparatory talks with EU leaders.

• Earlier, Politico, with reference to sources, announced the likely distribution of the most important positions in the EU. According to it , the European Commission will again be headed by von der Leyen, and the European Parliament by Robert Metzol, the former Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Costa may become the head of the European Council, and the position of the EUʼs top diplomat may be given to the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaia Kallas.