If current European Council President Charles Michel leaves office in July, as he previously announced, EU leaders will need to quickly agree on a successor.
Source: Politico, “European truth”
Details: If EU leaders fail to quickly agree on Michel’s successor, the presidency of the European Council will temporarily pass to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leader of the country that will chair the EU Council from July 2024 until December.
The Presidency of the Council of the EU rotates from one EU member to another for six months.
This is the first time that the current President of the Council of the EU will be a candidate in the elections to the European Parliament, and also the first time he leaves office early.
Michel would have remained in office until the end of November. And while his decision is legally permissible, it puts additional pressure on European leaders as they typically have more time to reshuffle and negotiate during a time of large distribution of top EU positions.
Following the European Parliament elections, which take place June 6-9 in all 27 EU countries, European leaders will meet on June 17 and then June 27-28. It is at these meetings that they will likely try to reach an agreement on Michel’s replacement.
Michel’s statement came on the eve of the first congress and New Year’s reception of his party, the Reform Movement (MR). At that convention on Sunday, party leader Georges-Louis Boucher is expected to explain who will lead the party ahead of June 9, when Belgians will vote not only in European Parliament elections, but also in regional and national elections.
Let us remind you: Charles Michel had previously announced that he would stand as a candidate for the European Parliament elections in June and therefore will leave his post early President of the European Council.
Hungary is known to take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union from July to December 2024, succeeding Belgium.
In June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which expressed “serious concern” developments in Hungary in light of its future presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Orbán himself said that the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union will be “more peacekeeping” and its goal is to “occupy Brussels.”
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2024-01-07 06:46:13
