EU: EUCO Fails To Reach Agreement On Commission, Council, Parl't Presidents

The informal meeting of European Union member state leaders on the evening of 17 June failed to reach an agreement on the next leaders of the EU's three political institutions and its foreign policy head. The division of positions among the various European political groups following the European Parliament elections can take some time to reach agreement as the various parties jostle for position and influence. 

• There is a broad expectation that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Parliament President Roberta Metsola will both be given another term in office. They each hail from the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), the largest political grouping. Former Portuguese PM Antonio Costa (centre-left Socialists and Democrats, S&D) is favourite to become Council President and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas (centrist Renew Europe) is seen as likely to become the next High Rep. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. 
• However, efforts to fast-track these decisions have led to some pushback. The EPP has supposedly raised the prospect of replacing Costa after his first 2.5yr term with their own candidate, unnerving the S&D group. Meanwhile, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni - whose Brothers of Italy (FdI) sits in the conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group - is looking for her group to be provided more senior positions given its increase in seats. 
• More concrete discussions are expected at the 27-28 June EUCO summit next week. Focus in the meantime will be on the slim, but not impossible, prospect of a broad right-wing alliance bringing together the ECR and Identity and Democracy (ID) groups. This low-probability, high-impact event could significantly upturn the race to fill EU positions.