The President of the European Council Charles Michel wants to remove the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen from participating in the informal meeting of the leaders of the European Union, where they will discuss the appointment of the new EU leadership.
Politico writes about this with reference to seven diplomats, officials and representatives of EU national governments.
An informal meeting is scheduled for June 17. After the European Parliament elections, EU leaders must agree on the next heads of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, as well as the head of the EUʼs foreign policy — some suspect that Michel is concocting a scheme to get the top job.
In a conversation with the EU leaders and their assistants Michel, as the head of the European Council, suggested not to invite von der Leyen to the informal meeting. Thus, writes the publication, Michel is trying to prevent her from becoming the head of the European Commission for the second time.
"Member states are increasingly irritated by the role of Charles Michel in the process of selecting a candidate for the position of the head of the European Commission. It seems that he is driven by purely personal motives,” one EU diplomat told Politico.
The strain in the relationship between Michel and von der Leyen became evident during a visit to Ankara in 2021, when the president of the European Council took the only available seat next to the Turkish president, leaving the head of the European Commission a seat on the nearby sofa. This incident went down in history as Sofagate. Ursula von der Leyen later called it sexism.
"If he wants to remove her from the room, he should also remove himself," one of the EU diplomats commented on Michelʼs proposal not to invite von der Leyen to the meeting.
According to Politicoʼs sources, Michelʼs attitude is causing "some irritation" in von der Leyenʼs office and unnamed EU leaders. In theory, Charles Michel can quickly close a deal on top jobs, locking in a second term for von der Leyen. Meanwhile, European diplomats believe that Michelʼs chance to get the top job is unlikely.
- Since taking office as President of the European Commission and since the pandemic and the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyenʼs reputation has improved, while Charles Michel has become the object of complaints, criticism and ridicule. All of this was compounded when he decided to leave the post of President of the European Council early to run for the European Parliament, and then quickly gave it up.