Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday evening, after the end of the informal EU summit, that he is not interested in any of the European positions and that he is “desirous of a third term” at the head of the Croatian government.
“I am the Croatian Prime Minister with a lot of experience already, eager for a third term,” answered Plenković when asked by a journalist if he was interested in one of the leading positions in the EU, which was discussed at the informal dinner of the leaders of the EU member states on Monday evening.
The leaders of the EU member states discussed on Monday evening at an informal working dinner the distribution of leading positions in the European institutions after the European elections held on June 9.
The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said at a press conference that no final agreement had been reached, but he expressed confidence that an agreement would be reached by the time of the formal EU summit, which will be held at the end of next week.
“We had good talks, which are going in the right direction, but we did not reach an agreement,” Michel said at a press conference after an informal working dinner.
The position of the President of the European Commission, the European Council, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy and the President of the European Parliament are being discussed.
Considering the balance of power in the European Council, where the EPP has 12 prime ministers, and in the European Parliament, where it has 190 out of 720 representatives, it seems most likely that the EPP candidate Ursula von der Leyen will get a second term at the head of the European Commission, and Robert Metsol remain president of the European Parliament in the first half of the mandate of this parliamentary term.
The name of the former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Košta from the ranks of the Socialists is crystallized for the President of the European Council, and the name of the Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas for the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, who comes from the ranks of the Liberals.
“These talks will continue in the following days and if a consensus is reached, we will make a decision at the regular meeting of the European Council at the end of next week. Today’s meeting was more informative,” Plenković told reporters after the meeting.
Given the convincing victory, the EPP must ask for more than it got in 2019.
Plenković said that he was the only one, along with Italian Prime Minister Djordja Meloni, to be the holder of his party’s list in the European elections and that it turned out to be a good move.
“I think we made a good judgment that I am the one carrying the list and in that way I will give additional strength and secure two mandates more than in 2019. In my opinion, the decision to mobilize at the highest level proved to be successful,” Plenković said.
He pointed out that the European People’s Party (EPP) must ask for more than it got in 2019, when it had much weaker election results, given its convincing victory. At that time, the EPP had six or seven prime ministers in the European Council, and today there are 12, soon maybe 13, and in the European Parliament, the EPP increased the number of representatives from 176 to 190.
He also said that not only four functions in the EU should be taken into account, but that consideration should also be given to who gets the functions of the Secretary General of NATO, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the President of the European Investment Bank.
“In this context, we need to see how the will of the voters is reflected in the European elections and how the current situation in the governments of individual member states is reflected,” said Plenković, adding that he expressed such views at EPP meetings.
Certain media outlets, citing unnamed sources, announced that Plenković requested that the position of president of the European Council be given to a socialist for the first two and a half years, and someone from the EPP for the second two and a half years, so that it would not happen that in two and a half years the center-right parties will remain only in the position of President of the Commission.
“I don’t know who said it, but I stand by everything I said and I think it’s good for our political family,” Plenković said, Hina writes.
